The trouble with this threads is they straddle a gaping chasm between complete delusion, or amazing trolling.

Just imagine if stuff was like this though and computing were more 'analogue' -- each of those 15 layers of JavaScript transpiling just degraded the quality of the end result slightly.

I have such a hard time imagining that thread being serious. Poe's law is in effect. Like seriously. What is going on with that thread?

Really weird things happen with half-knowledge and fixed ideas built on it. If you "know" it'll sound different, it will sound different to you. Combine that with actual, unrelated variations and maybe a bug that fits the pattern at some point...