the delay ("slow banned") is usually due to some sort of bad behavior. It can be arbitrary, or system-administered, for a number of reasons. In my experience, enough "good behavior" will get it removed after some period of time.
Again, you can always open a dialog with the guys. Depending on the reason behind the moderation, they may or may not respond... it's up to them.
Also, I find it hard to believe the OP was "hell banned" for not posting/commenting. If he truly had no "bad behavior", then I'd think either his account is linked to a bunch of other accounts from the same actual user, or he was mistakenly linked... at least that is my thoughts.
I have only one active HN account. I wonder if only submitting my own blog posts might be considered wrong behaviour. I write on my blog once in 2-3 months, and submit it to HN. HN and reddit are my only source of good reads, so I rarely find something useful to submit; and I submit links when I find them.
Not commenting/submitting regularly is the only reason I can think of that can be considered bad on my part.
Again, you can always open a dialog with the guys. Depending on the reason behind the moderation, they may or may not respond... it's up to them.
Also, I find it hard to believe the OP was "hell banned" for not posting/commenting. If he truly had no "bad behavior", then I'd think either his account is linked to a bunch of other accounts from the same actual user, or he was mistakenly linked... at least that is my thoughts.