[bluecatswim]

>there is no evidence it's in any way related to "criticizing dislike removal"

That was the last thing he commented which strongly suggests it is. The other few comments he showed were innocent ones praising animations and stuff too.

[ehsankia]

> which strongly suggests it is

I'd say correlation != causation, but it's not even correlation because it's literally a single data point. In no other context would people from HN try to extrapolate a single data point into such a strong claim.

[Trixter]

Since his last comment is still visible, it's the comment he left afterwards that may have actually started the ban (and was removed). So this could be disingenuous.