The snark is unwarranted because the parent is quite self-aware of their misjudgment and their comment would be helpful for others who didn't watch completely until the end. (when this was posted on reddit a lot of comments expressed a similar sentiment because they didn't watch completely until the end; [0] they thought the group photo was the end) By the way any comment can be top-level as long as it is its own thread of thought. Anything else is either a reply to one of those threads or a duplicate thread.
On one hand you say snark is unwarranted because HN posters are of a higher caliber than other sites and we don't post that sort of stuff around here.
On the other hand you say people on Reddit commented without watching the whole video (commenting with incomplete data, i.e. talking out their ass) so people on HN will do the same, so telling people to watch the whole video and be informed before opening their mouth is sage advice.
If HN is so perfect with idyllic commenters who are undeserving of snark, they wouldn't be posting a response to a video without watching the whole video. A requirement of posting would be to have watched an entire video or read a whole article and not just skim the first bit and vomit out the first thing that comes to mind.
Thanks for the confirmation that this place has gone down the toilet just like the last decades have claimed Slashdot, Digg, and Reddit before it.
Neither snark nor downvoting is an appropriate response to your disagreement with the consensus of others. The original commenter doesn't need "punishing" because other people appreciate his contribution more than you.
