Which comes first, the troll, or the heavy-handed mod (or community downvote waterfall, in the case of HN)? I've often found that the least moderated forums yield the strongest communities, which is somewhat counterintuitive.

I think the author of this blog post was simply combative in his own responses to the offensive commenter, and could have been far more engaging in a way that builds community. This blog post strikes me as a sort of passive-aggressive way to win a silly Internet argument and get validation.

(yes, I realize that the above paragraph itself seems combative, but really, I think you could have done a better job handling the situation)