But that doesn't "doesn't do anything"--it reloads the page.

Someone should tell the author, I guess ;)

But, if a page reloads and is exactly the same, did anything really happen?

The answer is yes, HTTP requests and caches at work, quite a lot is going on.

As someone on HN, I understand that. I was just being philosophical.

I guess, thinking whether anything happened depends on one's level of perception, and one's definition of what it means for something to "happen". (That is, whether you are looking only at the final result of a process, or at everything that happens during the process, irrespective of the final outcome).

If my Internet-newbie father clicked that button repeatedly, I'm sure he would think that "nothing is happening", and at his level of perception, that statement would be correct.

EDIT: Elaboration.