Coming from someone who is now almost automatically moved to the bottom of threads or the ridiculous "See More" section you all implemented, who as a result just doesn't post much anymore.
"Censorship" and "moderation" sometimes refer to the same thing from different points of view. The basis of HN moderation is not ideological agreement or disagreement, but the site rules at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. Most of the time when people complain that they've been censored/moderated because of their "controversial positions", they're unaware or don't want to admit that they broke the site guidelines. Of course we also make mistakes.
And yet the position of moderator is one that could do wonders for setting a better culture.
HN does in fact reflect on YC and Sam, whether you want it to or not. It's their site. And in a different way than Youtube is Larry and Sergey's site (something I at least hope you understand), though even they don't escape responsibility for what shows up there.
I'm genuinely interested.