[Cthulhu_]

Isn't the idea of hellbanning that people don't realize they are? Kinda defeats the purpose if you notify them of it. If HN wanted people to know they've been silenced, they would be given an error message. So, don't tell people. It's also spamming the comment with offtopic remarks.

[Dylan16807]

Using hellbans when you should be using normal bans or even temporary bans is a horrible system.

Most people that are hellbanned on HN have not at all deserved it. Ignoring spambots, I've seen perhaps two users that got a hellban for consistently problematic posts rather than a single post annoying someone. And one of those has actual mental issues.

[bicknergseng]

His interaction with the hn community (and vice versa) is actually one of the most interesting things I've seen on hn.

[vidarh]

I browse with showdead on because frankly, apart from the occasional commentspam, pretty much none of the comments I see from hellbanned users are from users who persistently make comments that would seem to justify a ban of any kind. Most of them appear to just have made a single stupid comment at some point or other that perhaps deserved some downvoting. It seems to me that hellbans are overused.

And the answer to it being overused is for people to call it out whenever a user is trying to contribute but hellbanned, and we don't agree with the ban after taking a look at their comment history.

[Sidnicious]

Sure, that's the idea. The comment looks totally legit and relevant, though.

Looks like their last comment sucked, and it's easier for a mod to ban someone than to reply, “that comment sucked” and hope they get better. Mods are never perfect, they have a big job, and people can (successfully) appeal hellbans.

[rschmitty]

Not sure what previous action caused him to get hell banned but his comment was trying to contribute something to this thread. Think it would be nice to know if I was banned and still trying to contribute.

[lnanek2]

Can't really recall a single hell ban I agree with. So the fact that everyone tries to warn the posters who have been banned kind of shows it is being misused. I would prefer it only be used on spammers and intention trolls/personal attacks. On HN it gets used far more, however. So I agree with everyone who warns people, basically.

[badman_ting]

Maybe, but it's pretty obvious when it happens. And of course if that weren't enough, every time you post people tell you that you're hellbanned.