Your instincts are wrong. HN has been a safe place as far as I've ever known (imo you're modded for being unreasonable or irrelevant here - even dumb is fine), but it's not safe to assume that you can say things bluntly in any forum just because they're true and said in good faith. It may read as bravery, but it's really just hubris. They'll delete you and tell other people to delete you. They'll report you to police. They'll ask your friends and family members why they're bad people for not shunning you.
Magical incantations and bad words are also the easiest things to avoid while still being very aggressive. Adhering to arbitrary pieties in form is actually a nice shield against people who are allergic to substance.
I hope people do read that, and the context. There's nothing banworthy there, at least from me. Not unless you're a big fan of tptacek running roughshod over people, as you yourself admit he often does.
You also claimed to have "asked me to stop" - which you didn't.
And when I asked you where you said that you didn't reply.
And when I emailed to ask nicely to be unbanned, as you requested, you ignored it.
> There's nothing banworthy there, at least from me
You were breaking the site guidelines repeatedly in that thread.
> And when I asked you where you said that you didn't reply
Sorry — usually I do reply — I must not have seen https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34856255. FWIW in retrospect, here are some places where we asked you to stop (I don't remember why I used the word 'just' though, since these are older):
What you're calling "breaking site guidelines", I call "politely standing up to an active bully". A bully who you acknowledged was well over the line. You said nothing to tptacek about it, while banning me for putting a toe over the "guideline".
You said "we just asked you to stop" in reference to a request 12 months previous, yes. There was no other request. I think 3 exceedingly minor incidents over 30 months is pretty bad to ban someone over - and I think it's weird that you'd go so far as to dig that shit up as if it's relevant here, or improves your case.
Sure look, we all make mistakes. Since you apparently though that you'd asked me to stop recently, and in fact you hadn't, feel free to unban me.
I sent the email that day. No worries about not finding it - you're only human. Again, feel free to stop rate limiting my comments, and limiting them to those with showdead on.
I'll continue to have a spine whatever you decide, and I'll call out bullies, politely, with this account or through a VPN - your call.