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I got the same treatment he did -- and have on accounts I have made since -- and we exchanged emails during development. We both went through each others' posts

I got the same treatment he did -- and have on accounts I have made since -- and we exchanged emails during development. We both went through each others' posts and couldn't find any rational reason for the treatment (slow banning and hell banning, in both of our cases). Lack of transparency is a pretty big deal on this forum, and once you've crossed Paul -- without knowing how -- it's scorched earth on any account you make. That's why Josh developed Lobsters, and why I'm user #2, and why I'm glad to see it's gaining traction as a community. This site is more threatening to opinion and discourse than any on the public Internet, and that isn't hyperbole. The irony is that this is a hacker community, and most hackers would be appalled at slamming the door and creating a curated garden of ideas. I've posted as jsprink_banned and jsprinkles on the topic, if you're interested; won't spam this thread with it.

ukd1 14y ago
Did you try getting in touch?
- jsprink_ban2 14y ago
  To what end? Paul doesn't want me around and has made that passive aggressively clear, so I'm not sure what good contacting him would do. I discussed on jsprink_banned how not spending immeasurable amounts of time in HN threads has had a positive impact on my life anyway.
- Lazare 14y ago
  My first account was hellbanned for no obvious reason. I had a bunch of karma, hadn't been downvoted, hadn't trolled. I asked pg for an explanation/reconsideration...nope! One of the dirty secrets of hackernews is that you can be hellbanned at any moment without rhyme or reason, and you'll likely never know why. I assume it serves some purpose OTHER than driving away helpful contributors, but I'm not sure what that might be.
  - pbiggar 14y ago
    I think it's fair to say that hellbanning is done to improve the site, rather than for the nefarious purposes you're trying to ascribe for it. Clearly, there are problems with it's application and transparency, but that's not the same as suggesting there's some plot here.
    - Lazare 14y ago
      No, it's not fair to say that hellbanning - as implemented on HN - is done to improve the site. It's arbitrary, capricious, and hugely non-transparent. No, I'm not suggesting a plot, but there's no natural law that says tech news sites must have a hairtrigger hellban (nor, as far as I'm aware, does any other site have anything remotely like HN's policy). Concious or not, it's a policy that HN has adopted, and it's a terrible policy.
      - pbiggar 14y ago
        What I'm saying is, dont confuse the motivation and the implementation. Yes, its the wrong implementation, but that doesn't mean that they apply it maliciously.
hnriot 14y ago
Wouldn't it have been easier to just register a new account on hn, or just treat it r/o and don't bother registering? Unless, of course, PG has written some software that identifies your browser across accounts (which isn't terribly hard,) but as you say there's no transparency here, but then it is his forum so I don't expect any kind of transparency. He can do what he likes and ban whomever he feels like. I commend the effort, so far the content looks like it is a clone of hn pretty much, I recognized many of the titles, but I think it's great you've created your own version.
- jsprink_ban2 14y ago
  I didn't create anything.
tptacek 14y ago
Graham allows the dumbest people on the Internet to come onto this site to berate startups he all but begged people to create, but hellbanned a guy who pooped out a better version of HN in his spare time, for nothing. For fuck's sake.
- zizee 14y ago
  I honestly can't tell if you are agreeing with what the parent wrote or disagreeing. I'm leaning toward disagreement.
  - zizee 14y ago
    Not sure what the down vote was for, it was a genuine question. The parents comment IS ambiguous and I would be interested in a clarification. Sometimes it is difficult to pickup on sarcasm in the written word. This post is not being sarcastic. Neither was my one above.
- jcr 14y ago
  From the date in the blog post, it seems you got things backwards; after getting hellbanned, he created lobsters. https://jcs.org/notaweblog/2012/06/13/hellbanned_from_hacker_news/ https://jcs.org/notaweblog/2012/06/13/hellbanned_from_hacker...
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
kcbanner 14y ago
Now we just need invites!

ukd1 14y ago

Did you try getting in touch?

jsprink_ban2 14y ago
To what end? Paul doesn't want me around and has made that passive aggressively clear, so I'm not sure what good contacting him would do. I discussed on jsprink_banned how not spending immeasurable amounts of time in HN threads has had a positive impact on my life anyway.
Lazare 14y ago
My first account was hellbanned for no obvious reason. I had a bunch of karma, hadn't been downvoted, hadn't trolled. I asked pg for an explanation/reconsideration...nope! One of the dirty secrets of hackernews is that you can be hellbanned at any moment without rhyme or reason, and you'll likely never know why. I assume it serves some purpose OTHER than driving away helpful contributors, but I'm not sure what that might be.
- pbiggar 14y ago
  I think it's fair to say that hellbanning is done to improve the site, rather than for the nefarious purposes you're trying to ascribe for it. Clearly, there are problems with it's application and transparency, but that's not the same as suggesting there's some plot here.
  - Lazare 14y ago
    No, it's not fair to say that hellbanning - as implemented on HN - is done to improve the site. It's arbitrary, capricious, and hugely non-transparent. No, I'm not suggesting a plot, but there's no natural law that says tech news sites must have a hairtrigger hellban (nor, as far as I'm aware, does any other site have anything remotely like HN's policy). Concious or not, it's a policy that HN has adopted, and it's a terrible policy.
    - pbiggar 14y ago
      What I'm saying is, dont confuse the motivation and the implementation. Yes, its the wrong implementation, but that doesn't mean that they apply it maliciously.

hnriot 14y ago

Wouldn't it have been easier to just register a new account on hn, or just treat it r/o and don't bother registering? Unless, of course, PG has written some software that identifies your browser across accounts (which isn't terribly hard,) but as you say there's no transparency here, but then it is his forum so I don't expect any kind of transparency. He can do what he likes and ban whomever he feels like. I commend the effort, so far the content looks like it is a clone of hn pretty much, I recognized many of the titles, but I think it's great you've created your own version.

jsprink_ban2 14y ago
I didn't create anything.

tptacek 14y ago

Graham allows the dumbest people on the Internet to come onto this site to berate startups he all but begged people to create, but hellbanned a guy who pooped out a better version of HN in his spare time, for nothing. For fuck's sake.

zizee 14y ago
I honestly can't tell if you are agreeing with what the parent wrote or disagreeing. I'm leaning toward disagreement.
- zizee 14y ago
  Not sure what the down vote was for, it was a genuine question. The parents comment IS ambiguous and I would be interested in a clarification. Sometimes it is difficult to pickup on sarcasm in the written word. This post is not being sarcastic. Neither was my one above.
jcr 14y ago
From the date in the blog post, it seems you got things backwards; after getting hellbanned, he created lobsters. https://jcs.org/notaweblog/2012/06/13/hellbanned_from_hacker_news/ https://jcs.org/notaweblog/2012/06/13/hellbanned_from_hacker...
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

kcbanner 14y ago

Now we just need invites!