FWIW this is also the interpretation I found evident.

It sounds like you are equating a preference for civility with the inability to distinguish civility and rationality. Have I misunderstood you?

That's a very good point. I don't have any good evidence that the inability exists and the preference explanation does do a very good job explaining the data.

It seems to me that there is no need to apologize for the claimed fact that LW people appreciate both rationality and civility. And certainly no reason to suggest that we conflate the two.

I suppose that it might be worth mentioning that P(downvoting|perceived incivility) > P(downvoting|perceived civility) and that P(downvoting|perceived irrationality) > P(downvoting| perceived rationality). And hence, that the downvotes provide ambiguous evidence to Augustus regarding his perceived sins. But this inability to signal unambiguously should not be interpreted as an inability to distinguish - not even by a fan of BF Skinner.

FWIW, I initially took Augustus's reference to "masturbatory fantasies" to be the fantasy of being in a ship captain's position of respected authority and having possession of remarkable moral clarity. Only on rereading did I notice the alternative reading that involved tentacles. Perhaps I am naive, but I see that kind of comic relief as less revealing about an author's own fetishes, and more revealing about his wish to seem hip to whatever subculture he is courting.