I don't have a dog in this fight, however, I am curious. Who exactly are you? Who is this "we" you are referencing? And why does this comment need to be avoided?
As danharaj mentioned, I'm a moderator of HN. "We" is me and the other mods. I didn't spell out what I was saying in detail because I don't want to embarrass a user unnecessarily. I know that's confusing, so maybe I'll make a general remark, not about anyone in particular.
Sometimes there are users who go rogue on a particular topic that for whatever reason they're obsessed with, and post way too many comments pushing an agenda on that point. This is bad for the site. If people overdo it repeatedly, we ask them to stop and ban them if they don't. Sometimes they create a series of accounts that we ban in succession. Eventually, sometimes, they manage to avoid the topic while participating on HN in other ways. In that case they're welcome here. But if we notice relapses, we remind them to stop and ban them if they don't. We do that because past experience teaches that going a little down that road usually ends in going the whole way.
In other words, this is a way to avoid banning a user by selectively banning only a (user, topic) pair instead. It's extra work, but it seems fair to allow someone to participate in the site as long as they avoid the destructive pattern.
dang|6 years ago
Sometimes there are users who go rogue on a particular topic that for whatever reason they're obsessed with, and post way too many comments pushing an agenda on that point. This is bad for the site. If people overdo it repeatedly, we ask them to stop and ban them if they don't. Sometimes they create a series of accounts that we ban in succession. Eventually, sometimes, they manage to avoid the topic while participating on HN in other ways. In that case they're welcome here. But if we notice relapses, we remind them to stop and ban them if they don't. We do that because past experience teaches that going a little down that road usually ends in going the whole way.
In other words, this is a way to avoid banning a user by selectively banning only a (user, topic) pair instead. It's extra work, but it seems fair to allow someone to participate in the site as long as they avoid the destructive pattern.
danharaj|6 years ago