alt Hacker NewsThe phrase "exception that proves the rule" refers to an apparent exception to the rule's outputs actually being explained by it having divergent inputs, i.e. if you claim P=>Q, then the exception that proves the rule would be an instance of ~Q=>~P.
What's different about computers that makes this applicable here?
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What they likely mean is that pointing to one exception that is notable only because it violates the general trend is not evidence against the trend.
The term is often also used simply as claiming the existence of a rule by claiming the exception.
It's one of those terms where I am pretty confident that I see the original use more rarely than the technically incorrect variations to the point I'd hesitate to call them incorrect any more.
This is not what the “exception that proves the rule” means.
If a sign says “No parking on saturdays”, that is an exception that can be used to infer the rule “parking here is okay the rest of the time”.