I'd agree that HN isn't the place generalized advocacy and that the same should be actively discouraged if it happens more than rarely, but, for specific cases such as this one, HN users have a relevant and appropriate interest. Technology patents directly affect HN users' lives and businesses. Furthermore, HN users are particularly well-suited to have educated and well-informed opinions on this particular matter; much more so than most of the general public. It is such an obscure area that interested parties cannot reasonably expect the general public to properly protect their interests.
If you are referring to a vindictive mob singling out a low-ranking individual for mob justice, nowhere. That's about as far from the hacker ethos and the principles of a functional society as one can get.
Well, if it wasn't for all the people in this thread valiantly defending the status quo, we'd be about this close to literally burning some innocent individual at the stake.
That's certainly worth a few frivolous patents, don't you think?
So, if not here on HN, then where?