Even though the false dichotomy has been presented to you you are still sticking with it.
I am advocating that the soldier's story of a grave misstep by a person not be presented one-sided with no opportunity for recourse in a very public manner on a very high-traffic blog.
If the conference organizers issued a response, is there ANY doubt that it will make it to the front page of HN?
I agree that it would likely end up being an endless series of accusations and counter-accusations, but it is not as if an accusation is being made with no chance to respond.
Yes, he did:
"Personally I think shit like this should not be blogged at all but whatever. I am not ready to fight this battle again."
It's in the first damn comment. Read it.
> No, he's not.
He's advocating that they not speak about their experiences in a public forum. That's a type of suggesting that they stay silent.