>Is it just me or is this style of comment, where you replicate someone else's comment and change some words to make them appear foolish, tremendously irritating and not conducive to good discussion?
It is useful in some contexts, but pointless in this one. Where I think it is useful is where the original person is stringing together a set of statements which (s)he then claims leads to a conclusion (when it doesn't). So you then construct a similar set of statements, string them together, and make the opposite conclusion. Or string together the opposite statements and make the same conclusion. Presumably the original person will not agree with the conclusion, and the hope is that it becomes apparent that as a result, his original set of statements do not lead to his claimed conclusion. It's hard for that person to debunk your statement without pointing out the flaws in his own logic.
In this case, the original commenter wasn't trying to make a point - just expressing his opinion. It makes no sense to use the tactic here.
It is useful in some contexts, but pointless in this one. Where I think it is useful is where the original person is stringing together a set of statements which (s)he then claims leads to a conclusion (when it doesn't). So you then construct a similar set of statements, string them together, and make the opposite conclusion. Or string together the opposite statements and make the same conclusion. Presumably the original person will not agree with the conclusion, and the hope is that it becomes apparent that as a result, his original set of statements do not lead to his claimed conclusion. It's hard for that person to debunk your statement without pointing out the flaws in his own logic.
In this case, the original commenter wasn't trying to make a point - just expressing his opinion. It makes no sense to use the tactic here.