It has origin in 4chan, like a lot of memes, and is at least as insulting to its user as to its object - being in essence an insult directed at functional adults by caricatures of NEETs, the humor coming from the fact that the latter really aren't in a position to look down on the former.
Of course, as with any hot meme, it gets a semantic makeover in the course of widening adoption, but if you're looking for an answer to the question of whether someone who uses "normie" unironically, especially in a context outside Reddit or a *chan, merits taking seriously...well, at the very least, I think it's reasonable to interpret that at least as a strong clue that the user isn't in the habit of thoroughly considering his utterances before emitting them.
Ah ok. In the context of 4chan or memes, it's not a problem. You usually like them because of the politically incorrectness. It just seems out of place on HN, where people tends to be overly analytic, and rarely call people names.
In a conversation like this I read it as a short-hand for "average non-techical user" that's less directly insulting than "lusers". I'd probably just say "normal user" or "average user" myself, but I don't find it name-calling in context.
It is moderately condescending, but it is very handy to describe average technical competence and what to expect from said humans.
Things need to be straightforward & familiar for normies (eg. Pokemon Go vs Ingress) and you can't expect to hold a high level conversation with a good chunk of them, whether that be about mathematics, policy (so much circular logic), reality (citations & sources are not a thing many normies are willing to use), etc.
That being said, its not all bad, just set expectations accordingly, just like you would going on HN. I do not expect the average HN reader to understand much about traffic dynamics and the minimal efficiency gains that may come with self driving cars, or the sheer volume of people a moderate sized light rail network can move in a timely manner, so I set my expectations very low.
Its like talking to a Microsoftie about rail or self driving cars, there is a lack of knowledge (the fact that Amtrak runs trains from Vancouver to Seattle to Portland and is paying BNSF to make the route more reliable) and a conceptual barrier that I do not expect them to rapidly grasp (bullet trains need dead straight rights of way, no exceptions).
Edit: Apparently I can't reply to you, nevertheless I picked up normie as a term in meatspace, and while it might not meet your sensibilities, I do not see a more accurate term, and I'm not here to intimately know & defend your sensibilities. Same goes for asking me or telling me your pronoun, great for you, I give not a single shit, use what you want and cut to the chase.
I agree with the throwaway. You should drop it in favor of average person or something else that's neutral. People seeing us insult them will only hurt adoption. Plus, many of these people that dont know much about computers are smart in other fields or have other talents. We aren't all supposed to have same strengths. So it's double-insulting shen it's an intelligent, but non-technical, user we're talking about.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm here for the insights. Trying to court everyone just waters down the comments until HN is indistinguishable from reddit. I prefer apparent condescension and a thick skin over PC half-conversations and watered-down intelligence.
You can have the insights without the insults. They add literally nothing, except to degrade the conversation until HN is indistinguishable from 4chan.
The expectation I set when going on HN is that my fellow commenters will have better sense, both socially and semiotically, than to use /r9k/ memes like "normie". I doubt I am alone in this.
