That is true, but in my experience HN mods have a really hard time recognizing the difference between malicious trolls/spammers who need to be kept in the dark

That is true, but in my experience HN mods have a really hard time recognizing the difference between malicious trolls/spammers who need to be kept in the dark vs. well-meaning commenters who could improve with a little correction. More often, anyone who comes to the attention of the mods is assumed to be a troll and gets silently throttled or hellbanned.