[shiven]

The hellbanning is what turned me off commenting and sharing my opinions on HN. With the passage of time, what was once a forum to discuss (and openly dissent) ideas feels like an old boys club ... with a few anointed head goons to keep the order (and teach newcomers a lesson with zealous downvoting and hellbanning), a few ol timers who still act decently in hopes that HN may yet regain its spirit (as they remember it) and the rest of the crowd filled with the usual riff-raff on any web forum who have no idea what HN started off as and will probably never care. PG, HN was (is?) a great idea and a great place and well worth the while. Burned two handles over the years, getting the hang of it, but by then it was no longer the place I liked.

I'll keep lurking, at least for now.

Good luck.