Those are separate issues. We need users, including you, to follow HN's rules regardless of what other people are up to. The way you attacked seanmcdirmid in this thread was unacceptable and obviously against the rules.

At the same time, users aren't allowed to accuse each other of being shills, etc. - this too is well-established and also in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. If you feel that users are breaking the rules you're welcome to flag the comments or to let us know at hn@ycombinator.com but responding by breaking the rules yourself is not ok.