It's true - I use those comments to provide detailed explanations, which I often link back to. They're sort of the case law of HN moderation. It's my intention to someday compile them into some sort of compendium of moderation heuristics or something...not sure yet what that should look like.
Entirely
So users are meant to first discover the key (the username) to lookup the logs? Then find a needle in a haystack of comments? Again, are you being serious.
I'm not sure what exactly you're asking me. There's a thing that fulfills the function of a public moderation log, an answer to your original question. What is the other stuff about? HN is absolutely full of not-particularly-discoverable UI, it's practically made of it. You've been here for over a decade.