[darklajid]

I agree, to a point. No one should attack the man.

But that project shouldn't be here either. The author is banned from discussing his work. He is considered 'unwanted' already, in a way (and without us, the mere mortals that take part in the discussions here, having a say).

So while you're certainly right in some way (personal attacks are uncalled for), refusing to give him a platform to present his propaganda is still just fine in my book. And please look at the linked page, try to call it anything but that...

A medical condition, severe as it might be, is no reason to accept everything with a 'Ah, but look: That guy has a problem'. He needs help. Not a link to his 'I talk to God and dates start when Jesus was among us' .. thing.

[sillysaurus2]

No. He is not considered unwanted. He's hellbanned because that is the only reasonable course of action for this case. He can post his comments and people can see it if they choose to. He's respected as a human being and fellow programmer suffering from a terrible disease. And I assure you this post would already be dead or buried if the mods didn't explicitly approve of its presence.

[darklajid]

Hellban: "We don't want your stuff here and hope it takes you ages to figure out that we don't read it, before you create another account to write the same things"

"I assure you this post would be dead or buried if the mods didn't explicitly approve"? Really? You claim to know that? I call BS. You defend both project (meh!) and author (understandable, in parts) throughout this thread.

Now you're claiming that this post is 'signed off' somehow? With that brand-spanking-new account? Are you hiding some information? Do you sit in PG's office? Are you 'sillysaurus', the old/respectable account? And if that's the case, what leads you to this crusade with a '2' suffix?

[sillysaurus2]

"I assure you this post would be dead or buried if the mods didn't explicitly approve"? Really? You claim to know that? I call BS.

You don't need to take my word for it. The thread was sitting at #3 at 01:05 UTC. It was then manually adjusted by a moderator, or automatically adjusted due to flagging, or automatically adjusted due to the flamewar detector, to #26 at 01:10 UTC. http://hnrankings.info/6308017/ Also, mods are typically quick to bury stuff that they feel wouldn't be good for HN, especially during primetime hours. This post was #1-#3 for several hours, so this leads me to suspect this thread was either automatically adjusted by the flamewar detector or penalized due to flagging, and that a moderator had already seen this and decided not buried it. Also, for the stuff they truly do not want on HN, they bury the story by adjusting its gravity to be infinite, e.g. it's not merely moved to page 2 or page 3 but to >page 10. And this story wasn't buried.

Yes, I was sillysaurus. I was hellbanned for posting controversial comments and then deleting them. Now I make controversial comments and don't delete them.

[krapp]

He's hellbanned because that is the only reasonable course of action for this case.

Is it the only reasonable course of action or is it the only course of action the site or its policies allow? Does anyone get banned outright? Has that even been tried in his case?

[jimminy]

I've looked at the page, I do find the content offensive. The project itself (stripped of the bullshit) is somewhat interesting. Whether the project is worth any mention or platform is to the individual. I personally wouldn't have posted it for the fact that it is offensive.

My issue is that it wasn't him that posted this. The reason he's 'unwanted' is so he doesn't receive the platform. [ETA: sillysaurus says it much better than I.] The core of my issue is that it wasn't him that posted this. He's been dragged into the spotlight by a third party and then attacked.

And I agree that medical conditions are not a reasonable bye in most cases. In this case, it's an attempt to put forth some ground of understanding.

[darklajid]

We're not too far apart.

He didn't post it. No need to attack the person behind the project.

But the project (you saw the page) offers quite some opportunities for criticism already. I agree that we shouldn't bash the guy for his .. background. I still think that the "Oh, but this is so amazing" and even more, "Don't criticize the guy, he has a medical condition you insensitive clod" is useless, crap and no better than the "That guy is a nutjob" insults.

Judging the project on its own, looking at nothing but the link, I'd say that this in inappropriate. That's my position, nothing else - and I don't mean that guy any harm.