I've changed the title on the post and added an Update to the top of it. I'd rather not resubmit to hacker news since I think it's taken up enough attention already. Thanks to you both for the suggestions.
Hi Scott - I admit it was a cheap trick. This is the first time I've had something like this posted to an audience so I've had one or two things to learn!
I'd appreciate it if anyone interested in the post would skip the first few paragraphs and start at "Benefits of automated functional tests" since that was what I was intending to convey.
Hi, I'm the original author. That wasn't the point I was trying to make at all - despite the attention grabbing headline it's really talking about the value of functional and integration tests.
In retrospect I wish I'd used a different title and skipped the first few paragraphs - I'd intended it to be a bit of humorous indirection making it sound like the post was going to be against automated testing whereas it is really very much in favour of it, but unfortunately people have taken it the wrong way.