How? My post is not a top level post, is a specific complaint (top level posts calling out nobody in particular), about a specific comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7307696), made by a specific person (@srl).

If you want other examples of similarly egregious comments I'd be more than pleased to provide them, but we already have a perfectly functional example right here.

Well, your comment mentions a specific top-level post, but then it goes all meta and rants about non-specific top level posts in general.

That it's not "top level" itself, well, I don't find it as much of a differentiator.

I am not opposed to people discussing commenting trends or karmic-system theory (_particularly_ when a concrete example is given), I am opposed to them doing it as top level posts in conversations not specifically about commenting trends or voting systems.

"Top level, or not" may not be something that you find to be an interesting consideration, but it is what I am complaining about. Since meta-conversation in general is not what I am complaining about, there is no irony.