> It seems a lot of people don't know how to find out whether they're shadowbanned, or how to get out of the HN purgatory if they are. Agreed, and as others me

> It seems a lot of people don't know how to find out whether they're shadowbanned, or how to get out of the HN purgatory if they are. Agreed, and as others mention, a little more transparency would be nice. When I signed up, I think I posted less than 10 comments, all perfectly civil and in-line, before someone informed me I appeared to be hellbanned (and was kind enough to comment on it and say they looked at my comment history and didn't see any reason). I don't know what heuristic I triggered or if it was simply a mistake, but my initial reaction was that banning was so arbitrary and capricious around here that I almost just shrugged and said, "ok, whatever, I'm not particularly invested in this site," and left. Instead I emailed info@ycombinator.com to ask why I was hellbanned, and I never got a response, but soon afterwards, the ban was lifted. I still have no idea what happened, and although I seem to have managed to find the right tone for comment threads, the machinations of the site and its rules remain shadowy and cryptic, so I have no idea if I'm eventually going to be banned again. Edit: haha, I just went back and looked, and it was you who was so kind. Thanks, parent! :)