The parent comment started the distraction it was complaining about. This is common enough on the internet that there's a name for it: concern trolling. Of course I don't mean that the GP was trolling in the classical sense of trying to ruin the thread, but we have to judge these things by effects (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...), not intent, and the effects were clear.
If you care about threads not becoming distracted, the primary thing to cultivate is restraint. There's also downvoting and flagging. And anyone who notices a major distraction in a thread is very welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com so we can look into it. That doesn't have to be a political flamewar—it could be just a generic tangent sitting as the top subthread.
If you care about threads not becoming distracted, the primary thing to cultivate is restraint. There's also downvoting and flagging. And anyone who notices a major distraction in a thread is very welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com so we can look into it. That doesn't have to be a political flamewar—it could be just a generic tangent sitting as the top subthread.