That's exactly the childish behavior though. People getting offended by others likes and opinions and downvoting because of their disagreement or offense.
Not to say that all FSF people write MSFT as M$FT -- it would only be a small subset. But getting angry, offended, annoyed by people that do this and then voting them down is childish.
It's not as much a question about being angry or offended, or even downvoting based on disagreement. It's more about (to me, anyway) indicating what kind of stuff doesn't add to the discussion.
A few days ago, I called out someone for making a pair of spelling mistakes in one name (spelling "Jimmy Hendricks" instead of "Jimi Hendrix"). I was downvoted because what I had to bring didn't add anything relevant to the conversation. And you know what? That's fine. I should have been downvoted. It was a totally pointless and irrelevant and smart ass thing for me to say, motivated by pedantry and affection for one of the best musicians to come from my home town.
Replacing the letter S with a dollar sign is the same sort of thing. At best, it's neutral and adds nothing, at worst, it's a distraction that will serve to discredit any valid point you're trying to make. It it ever had any novelty or cleverness, it wore off long, long ago.
If that was the entirety of the post, I'd say you would be correct. However, given that the point was defending the utility of Microsoft software against pure FOSS-inclined folk, I'd say it is pointless to downvote simply because the person in question (myself) referred to Microsoft as M$FT in the same posting. In fact, it is a bit like your behavior before -- did you downvote someone for misspelling Jimmy Hendrix's last name in an otherwise good post?
No, I didn't downvote based on the misspelling of Hendrix's name, it was basically a joke. But the joke wasn't really funny, and it wasn't really insightful.
I agree in my case that the substitution (i.e. S -> $) didn't add anything to the post. But I don't think it detracted much either. I'm surprised it is such a big deal to folks. It wasn't really the point and it was really just to heighten the contrast between FOSS enthusiasts and Microsofties.
Using the dollar sign is effectively an insult. Just like if I was to refer to Apply as crApple. How is it not childish to resort to name-calling like that?
If I starting my reply with "Look lhnz, you moron, ..." would you not downvote me or defend me if others did so?
I downvote people for things like M$ because I think that name-calling and inflammatory remarks aren't conducive to a worthwhile discussion.
Not to say that all FSF people write MSFT as M$FT -- it would only be a small subset. But getting angry, offended, annoyed by people that do this and then voting them down is childish.