It's not really "suppressed", it's just slightly less convenient to view. It only takes one extra click to read. I assume that you're aware of the HN setting t

It's not really "suppressed", it's just slightly less convenient to view. It only takes one extra click to read. I assume that you're aware of the HN setting that allows you to see dead posts. I assume that you're aware that clicking on the time of a downvoted post makes it completely visible. However, once a post is flagged or dead or the user is banned, it's not possible to reply to a post. That's certainly by design and I doubt that HN mods will ever change that. As for understanding the overall zeitgeist of HN, keep the following in mind, I stole it from somewhere but don't remember where. It's the best explanation that I've found: HN is open minded about intellectual inquiry as long as that inquiry doesn't challenge anything an average Californian already believes