Oh, I personally wouldn't call it rape. But then, I only count literal coercive unwanted intercourse as rape, with lesser evils that often get bundled up with that as distinct if similar wrongs.

I find this more useful then other, more standard definitions because while obviously discovering you had sex, say, without birth control when you specified that you only wanted it with birth control is traumatic, I suppose, it's not traumatic in the same way as being forced to have sex with someone at gunpoint.

But these looser definitions are common, and often have legal force, so it's worth noting when an act could be classified as rape even if I myself would not do so. I considered adding a disclaimer to the effect that I would not consider it "rape" but decided not to bother, on the basis that we're not discussing my opinions and there was no point starting an argument over definitions. I see I may have been suffering from the illusion of transparency somewhat.

Most people are in favor of punishing advertisements that mislead consumers. Companies - who ideally would use advertisement solely to raise awareness of their product - have a financial incentive to make their ads as persuasive as possible, and so constantly push at the legal boundaries. Advertisement will always be biased, no matter how strict our regulations. But then, what we should do and what should be legal are two different questions.

i was arguing that lying of various kinds is pervasive and sometimes beneficial, (...)

And I argued that this is irrelevant to the claim that you were apparently arguing against.

it is far too simplistic to argue "lying degrades the signal, and is therefore bad".

I don't see that claim being made directly, and there's only a hint of it in connotation. Going further up the comment thread, I can see that MugaSofer apparently believes that having correct information on this is important and that lying is in this case bad, but this is not (as far as I can tell) appealed-to anywhere as argument for the claims in the comment you called "meaningless".

So I don't see the two claims as being causally related, and certainly not something of the form quoted above. If this is implied, it is not obvious to me and I would ask for clarification or more explanation, rather than assume it implicitly and argue against (what is then most likely) a strawman.

If everyone is taking it into account, then exaggerating your sociability in your profile is sending an accurate signal, and not doing so will mislead viewers into underestimating your sociability.