I think that marking the actual post as "flagged" or "censored" would make it clear what is happening. A big banner across the top so that everyone on the post

I think that marking the actual post as "flagged" or "censored" would make it clear what is happening. A big banner across the top so that everyone on the post knows that their comments don't matter and they have been essentially cut off from the rest of the community. Hacker news however prefers doing things on the sly and that makes people feel bad. It is the opposite of open and transparent.