Those ~20 year old comments compared HN to Reddit of that time, which was insulting to HN. In the 20 years that passed probably HN at some point crossed the threshold of old Reddit. But now the insult is to compare it to current Reddit.

On the other hand putting it in the rules that you’re not allowed to say X and then quoting the rule as evidence against X is at the very least not an intellectually interesting way of making a point. Imagine if everyone put in their profile that they’re never wrong and kept pointing at that when challenged.