That phrase is usually referring to some sort of judgement or characterization, not a particular action. If a teacher makes the whole class stay late because a few were acting up, that's not painting with the same brush. If you think that all children are disruptive because a few acted up, that is.

> If a teacher makes the whole class stay late because a few were acting up, that's not painting with the same brush

Huh, I'd think it is. Class goes home, and the acting up go to the principal is the regular non-sweeping treatment.

Ok but in both the case of HN and TOR, you're making a judgement about the kind of people on there. There's nothing inherently wrong with traffic from a TOR router, it's the users on there. HN referrals are similarly not a problem per se.

Hm, I suppose that's a distinction that can be made. OTOH, I think someone posting

> In addition, we find that only a tiny fraction of HN comments (often less than 1%) actually engage with the substance of our articles, with the majority being off-topic, misinformative, repetitive, or otherwise of low quality, making the overall value of HN exposure overwhelmingly negative for our project.

very much is judging the actual people.