4 ms·

1. There is never going to be an opportunity for this to be on-topic. Someone expressed that they hoped I would continue writing, so it's not quite "entirely of

1. There is never going to be an opportunity for this to be on-topic. Someone expressed that they hoped I would continue writing, so it's not quite "entirely off-topic." 2. There is no recourse for those who have been banned or penalized. 3. I have tried to go through the normal channels and ask for an explanation. 4. I've been a member here for a decade, and typically that means something. Not a lot, but a little bit. Part of HN's strength is its fastidiousness to these rules. But it's also a weakness. Isn't it convenient that the perfectly crafted ruleset just so happens to exclude any possibility of critiquing HN or asking "Hey, I'm in a situation that sucks, what should I do about this?" So yes, feel free to simply not empathize. That's your right. And it's my right to continue causing trouble and escalating the situation until I get myself banned as a protest to overreaching moderation policies. I would rather go out fighting than be kicked repeatedly until I just get tired and quit. (And whatever you say, you try writing HN comments when all of them immediately get whisked to the bottom and tell me it doesn't feel like a small kick each time it happens. Especially if you put effort into your writing, or care at all about quality.)

maxerickson 9y ago
Oh, I just don't put in any effort or care about quality. A serious suggestion: for a couple weeks, try evaluating every paragraph you are thinking about posting and deciding whether it is "meta" or not and then just omit the ones that are. See if this makes your HN experience worse.
- goldenkey 9y ago
  Why would you totally dismiss his thoughts and secrets about HN as if they are farcical? I didn't know about the slowban or the other types. And now that I think about it.. similar things have been going on with my account. I think its gross to silently downmodulate people as if they are hormones in a bid to shut out their ideas. Maybe you take everything too relaxed and see HN as more of entertainment. In that case you should ignore his post. He said very meaningful things and shared little known knowledge. That means something..
corey_moncure 9y ago
My tiny protest is to simply upvote comments like yours. I often go looking through the post history to use my judgment whether it's trolling or someone who has sinned by expressing a controversial opinion. The official forum guidelines say "Be civil", so I use that as my rubric.
grzm 9y ago
I can understand that you feel frustrated. That said, even just reading your comments here, some things are clear: You do have recourse (email the mods), which you've used, and abused, both in quality and quantity by your own admission. You've acknowledged that you've behaved in ways that are against the guidelines, and have ignored the feedback you've gotten and continued to post in ways that are against the guidelines. You seem to be aware of these things yet apparently haven't taken them to heart or believe that they really don't apply to you. You've event acknowledged that if you continue behaving the way you are that you'll eventually get banned. Is that what you want to happen? Posting on HN is not a right: it's a privilege. Yet you can still potentially redeem yourself. - Don't just post everything that comes to mind. You mention a few times in this thread that you spend time on your comments: spend more time, reviewing especially keeping in mind the feedback you've received with respect to behavior that's gotten you penalized. Do a dedicated review pass only for this, if necessary. - Give yourself a month or two where you err on the side of not posting. - In particular, besides keeping to the guidelines, in particular don't comment on downvotes or your penalties. - Refrain from emailing the mods about your penalties during that period. - Perhaps use the "delay" so you can give yourself more time to review and perhaps retract a comment before it's made public. This might all across a bit harsh, but I do think you need to take what you yourself have written to heart and change your behavior if you want to continue posting on HN. And I hope you do! You appear to care deeply about this and are passionate about things you believe in. Those are good things when properly directed. It'd be a shame for you to be banned when it's important to you.
- sillysaurus3 9y ago
  Every one of your points is true, and it's not that I disagree with you. It's that fighting fire with fire isn't ok. If I was doing something they saw as an act of aggression, the answer isn't to then have a policy of acting aggressively towards me. Shoving my comments to the bottom automatically has certain implications, and it basically removes you from the community and turns the mods into bullies. And I get that what I did may have warranted some sort of punishment, but at this point it's unclear what precisely triggered this or whether any of what you say is true. If I deserved to get banned, then they should just ban me so I can move on.

maxerickson 9y ago

Oh, I just don't put in any effort or care about quality. A serious suggestion: for a couple weeks, try evaluating every paragraph you are thinking about posting and deciding whether it is "meta" or not and then just omit the ones that are. See if this makes your HN experience worse.

goldenkey 9y ago
Why would you totally dismiss his thoughts and secrets about HN as if they are farcical? I didn't know about the slowban or the other types. And now that I think about it.. similar things have been going on with my account. I think its gross to silently downmodulate people as if they are hormones in a bid to shut out their ideas. Maybe you take everything too relaxed and see HN as more of entertainment. In that case you should ignore his post. He said very meaningful things and shared little known knowledge. That means something..

corey_moncure 9y ago

My tiny protest is to simply upvote comments like yours. I often go looking through the post history to use my judgment whether it's trolling or someone who has sinned by expressing a controversial opinion. The official forum guidelines say "Be civil", so I use that as my rubric.

grzm 9y ago

I can understand that you feel frustrated. That said, even just reading your comments here, some things are clear: You do have recourse (email the mods), which you've used, and abused, both in quality and quantity by your own admission. You've acknowledged that you've behaved in ways that are against the guidelines, and have ignored the feedback you've gotten and continued to post in ways that are against the guidelines. You seem to be aware of these things yet apparently haven't taken them to heart or believe that they really don't apply to you. You've event acknowledged that if you continue behaving the way you are that you'll eventually get banned. Is that what you want to happen? Posting on HN is not a right: it's a privilege. Yet you can still potentially redeem yourself. - Don't just post everything that comes to mind. You mention a few times in this thread that you spend time on your comments: spend more time, reviewing especially keeping in mind the feedback you've received with respect to behavior that's gotten you penalized. Do a dedicated review pass only for this, if necessary. - Give yourself a month or two where you err on the side of not posting. - In particular, besides keeping to the guidelines, in particular don't comment on downvotes or your penalties. - Refrain from emailing the mods about your penalties during that period. - Perhaps use the "delay" so you can give yourself more time to review and perhaps retract a comment before it's made public. This might all across a bit harsh, but I do think you need to take what you yourself have written to heart and change your behavior if you want to continue posting on HN. And I hope you do! You appear to care deeply about this and are passionate about things you believe in. Those are good things when properly directed. It'd be a shame for you to be banned when it's important to you.

sillysaurus3 9y ago
Every one of your points is true, and it's not that I disagree with you. It's that fighting fire with fire isn't ok. If I was doing something they saw as an act of aggression, the answer isn't to then have a policy of acting aggressively towards me. Shoving my comments to the bottom automatically has certain implications, and it basically removes you from the community and turns the mods into bullies. And I get that what I did may have warranted some sort of punishment, but at this point it's unclear what precisely triggered this or whether any of what you say is true. If I deserved to get banned, then they should just ban me so I can move on.