When I worked at Kink.com (NSFW), we implemented hellbanning for when people would repeatedly make mean comments about the models. That said, I think it definitely has its place because we would often get a few people who would really try to abuse the comment system and the only way to effectively deal with them was to make them think people saw their comments.
For the last few months, I've been making a small range of comments here just to kind of test the waters and see what people react to. It has been a really good personal learning experience because it is almost like people are telling you something to your face, instead of what they'd normally say behind your back or just keep to themselves.
In general, I really like the community here, mostly because it favors positivity. I wish it favored a bit more humor and sarcasm, but those are two things that are hard to convey as text on a page.