I agree that the chilling effect is unfortunate. I also think the chilling effect reaches further—there is a chilling effect on those that find this language, and perhaps even more so the moderators and forum members that condone it, troublesome. When I wrote my original comment, the author could simply have removed this particular analogy from their post. I would then have been ok to remove my comment and I would likely have even removed my downvote of the post—perhaps people would not even notice and the chilling effect would be much reduced. I also think humility is good to practice for EAs and taking onboard reasonable criticism and changing our behavior seems a good way to exercise such humility.
I agree that the chilling effect is unfortunate. I also think the chilling effect reaches further—there is a chilling effect on those that find this language, and perhaps even more so the moderators and forum members that condone it, troublesome. When I wrote my original comment, the author could simply have removed this particular analogy from their post. I would then have been ok to remove my comment and I would likely have even removed my downvote of the post—perhaps people would not even notice and the chilling effect would be much reduced. I also think humility is good to practice for EAs and taking onboard reasonable criticism and changing our behavior seems a good way to exercise such humility.