I personally found that venting about it did achieve something — disagreeing with folks in the comments prompted me to look up concrete numbers on how many men are likely to experience shame around their penis size.

I also think it helps nudge social norms towards making that kind of language less acceptable (both here on HN and elsewhere), and in a best case may have prompted some folks to reflect on how they speak and write.

Is that speculative benefit worth the conflict it created? I think so — when managed appropriately, conflict is a normal and healthy part of most human relationships. And IMO the wellbeing of ~2 million men is worth stirring the pot a little.

But you might disagree and you're the mod, so for better or worse your opinion is the one that matters here.

And it's clear that the people, as they really are, are all despicable and horrible inside.

thanks for the pep talk, coach, but you're not my coach and i didn't ask for any coaching. i know what i'm dealing with. i've probably been on the internet longer than you've been alive, so i've watched the internet go from a fairly healthy place to just pile after pile of shit everywhere people interact with each other online. i've watched more and more people show up solely so they can be themselves, and more and more places appear solely for people to be unreastrainable asses to each other.