[cynicalpeace]

My instinct to this was: "This is literally patronizing"

Threats are what every parent tells their child: "If you do X, I'll take away Y"

For parenting, a limited form of this probably makes sense, because the parent has an authority over the child given by The Nature of Things.

But between adults this mode of communication is grotesque, and it is more and more common.

Especially amongst redditors, forum moderators, and other geeks of the ilk.