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Comment by lkozma | Hacker News Reader

I would just like to point out to dba7dba that his account seems to be banned and the post appears as [dead], just like all the other posts he wrote in the past 294 days (but not those before). Reading his contribution in this thread and some of his earlier comments, it is not at all obvious why he is banned - moderating a forum is fine, but letting someone post for another year without telling them they are banned seems outright cruel - what is going on here exactly?

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I just recently emailed someone telling them they'd been hellbanned when they had done nothing apparent that deserved it, and continued to post for months.

Hellbanning is definitely something I really dislike about this website. I can't imagine submitting and commenting for months only to find out I was wasting my time.

Hellban is the most ignorant and stupidest invention, yet the most effective way to take down oppositions.

"but letting someone post for another year without telling them they are banned seems outright cruel - what is going on here exactly?"

There are of course several speculations for this that people can offer but perhaps you should post an "Ask PG" with that exact question.

Well that sucks... So I deleted my post. But why was I banned? Just wondering...

I saw one post of his in this thread. It was [dead] and I assumed it was because it was completely off-topic and self-serving. There was no tie-in to this article except the idea of a 'snake on an island'. I didn't flag it but I can see how some people might do so. Is that why? No clue! Just offering what I saw.

I think his post in this thread is fairly informative. I didn't realise snakes could cause that much damage to a holiday paradise by eating the birds that eat the spiders.

It's off topic though, isn't it? It's not in any way about the article. It's tangential, I suppose. That's why I think several people hit the 'flag' link. Just for clarity - I didn't flag it. It was already [dead] when I saw it. I'm just guessing.

It's not in any way about the article.

Are the effects of snakes in Guam not close enough for you? :)

Anyway being tangential or meta doesn't seem to be an unpopular thing in HN. Also, you can't flag comments. (Edit: Yes you can.)

lol - I love that someone downvoted me for suggesting someone else's post was off-topic/tangential. Oh, HN...

I didn't flag the guy - I'm just positing why someone else did. And you're right - you can't "flag" comments. The correct word is "downvote" - sorry.

You actually can flag comments -- you just need to click on the "link" to the comment and the "flag" shows up (if you have some appropriate karma level).

You've opened a new HN dimension to me. Not that I'll use this often, but it's good to know it's there.

You can flag comments.

dba7dba: it's hard to tell. You should send an email off to info@ycombinator.com and ask why you were banned and if they could unban you.

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