Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would like to see a solution that addresses this issue too. Perhaps something like http://news.ycombinator.com/classic but instead of users who have been on HN for a year, you pick the users. Some AI programmers might suggest that HN itself could figure out what users typically upvote the same content as you -- no thanks, I can pick them out myself. A tag/keyword system would be ideal but that's a lot of work and t…
How do you know that someone else has been banned? How do you know if YOU have? What's "hellbanned"? What's "shadow banned"?
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/06/suspension-ban-or-h...
I think they're the same (or at least similar), and basically you're invisible to everyone but yourself.
This is a 'safer' form of banning, as someone who is outright banned would notice right away and might try to get revenge in some way. But, if everything works just like always and they don't realize they're banned, then they won't get upset (and won't raise hell).