> As for the other submission, I didn't find the slightest indication that the submitter did anything wrong. If you posted your URL to another site, perhaps they saw it there and thought HN might find it interesting? Alternatively, perhaps they had 'showdead' turned on in their profile, saw https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33383563 and thought it might do better with a different title? There are lots of ways that post could have been made legitimately.

If it is possible to show "dead" posts by anyone who then get "inspired" and re-post them, this could be an explanation. However, the policy of not notifying accounts that they are "banned" but their posts are still posted is a bit odd. What is the reasoning and "long game"? Can an account be un-banned or are the posts only stored and forgotten?

> It's also not clear what the alternative hypothesis is - what are they supposed to have done that wasn't legitimate? I looked at a bunch of their submissions and none of the links had been previously submitted to HN, so this isn't happening routinely.

Well, I assumed that only internal HN staff could hide and view posts, and that looked a bit suspicious - especially if the "hi-jacking" accounts are posting 24/7.