[walteweiss]

Was this comment targeted at me or other commenters that are [flagged] or removed right now? Sincerely, I don’t understand, as it’s my comment you replied to.

If that is targeted to me, I don’t understand which slurs are you talking about. Calling Russians Russians is a slur now? Explaining other parts of their culture, maybe? Explain me please. To me that looks like you (or ycombinator which policy you follow) side with Russians. Are you even aware of the genocidal war they place at Ukraine right now for over two years? Is it allowed to mention on hacker news? Besides that, I’m not calling names. I’m just telling others, ‘look he’s Russian, unfortunately they don’t understand the concept of paying for software, respecting its license. Since, after all, they don’t have human rights to start with’. I would prefer to get your public explanation of these policies rather than telling me in email in private. I remember similar occasions in other threads, one with me, and with others as well. So my assumption is that some kind of policy I didn’t get from the rules.

The previous ban was on a similar occasion. So my assumption is that you just chose your side already. And it’s not allowed to say not even some bad words about Russians, but just mention the true parts of their culture here on hacker news. That’s how I see the issue, if your comment was targeted at my communication. Not my opponents that are obviously harassed me for expressing my point of view. As they’re flagged, I don’t understand if I interpreted you correctly.

Thanks, looking forward to your comment.

P.S. As I was allowed to comment, looks like the whole ban thing is targeted at someone else, isn’t it? I am perplexed.

[dang]

What you posted was obviously a slur—this was not a borderline call. You can't make pejorative generalizations about entire populations like that on HN, no matter which population, nor how you feel about them. I'm surprised to have to spell this out.

HN's rules don't change during a conflict. On the contrary, they become even more applicable: "Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive." - https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

> So my assumption is that you just chose your side already

People frequently assume that they got banned because the moderator just disagrees with them, rather than because they broke the rules. We hear this from every side of every argument. All I can tell you is that what you posted would be just as unacceptable if it were about any other nationality. Like I said, this is not a borderline call.

Banned accounts are allowed to comment on HN, but their posts are killed by default. Users can vouch for the good comments posted by banned accounts, so the posts don't necessarily stay [dead].