I browse with showdead on, and if there is a good [dead] post, I upvote it. I'm assuming that must do something, or is it just a placebo button[1]?
Ask PG: Please consider a resurrection vote for the undead amongst us
31–40 of 102 posts
Re: Ask PG: Please consider a resurrection vote for the undead amongst us
#32I think the only time I've been banned was when I refreshed the "new" page too quickly to see how something I'd submitted was being upvoted. I was banned for a few days. Frustrating - but lesson learned.
Re: Ask PG: Please consider a resurrection vote for the undead amongst us
#33It's important for people to include an email in their 'about' box on their profile, so that other HN users can get in contact. HN seems to be pretty good about letting people know that they're banned, either by email or in threads. It's probably a good idea to check their comment history before letting them know. jere's comment is disturbing. I tend to stay away from some hotbutton topics now, and anything involving…
I was partly shadow-banned myself, on this account -- my comments would show up, but not my submissions. I only figured it out months after it happened (I just assumed the things I was submitting weren't catching peoples' interest for some reason), which was frustrating. At the time the account had more than 4,000 karma, which I would have thought would have been a decent indicator that I wasn't a troll. I eventually…
I also got some sort of partial "status reduction", less than a full ban: my ability to flag posts disappeared. I sent an e-mail and got it reinstated. But I still have no idea what I might have done wrong, and neither does the HN moderator who reinstated me.
I understand that the HN mods don't want to have to explain every action, and when someone really deserves a partial or full ban they don't want to announce it and cause the person to just evade it. I've been in the position of moderating several forums (none quite this big) and I know it's difficult to keep out the trolls and keep false positives low. But the false positive rate on HN seems very high to me. Some of these methods seem to be too widely used on too many good contributors with too little explanation, and as you say, that breaks down the trust the community needs.
Re: Ask PG: Please consider a resurrection vote for the undead amongst us
#34Inherent in getting shadowbanned is not knowing or understanding why it occurred. My previous account had almost a thousand points, and though I made the occasional drunk rant, they were rightfully downvoted. To take away someone's voice, who clearly isn't a spammer, without them knowing, is a shitty thing to do.
Re: Ask PG: Please consider a resurrection vote for the undead amongst us
#35If resurrection is not approved I'd settle for the ability to reply to their comments.
The problem with that is the dead users will always be told they're dead, defeating the purpose. Unless... replies to dead users' comments are hidden from the dead user.
Re: Ask PG: Please consider a resurrection vote for the undead amongst us
#36How can you tell if you are dead?
Re: Ask PG: Please consider a resurrection vote for the undead amongst us
#37I'm in that situation. Somewhere along the line I said something that annoyed a mod and now I can't even create a new account - it's instantly marked 'dead' automatically. Must be either a cookie or perhaps my IP is banned.
Re: Ask PG: Please consider a resurrection vote for the undead amongst us
#38This actually wasn't my first account. I lurked for a while and then finally decided to join. When I first joined, I commented for a few weeks and then stumbled into a conversation that involved Steve Jobs and poaching employees. The top comment was talking about how greedy Jobs was and I replied pointing out that he had taken $1 in salary and no stocks for several years. I wasn't totally clear in my first comment an…
This is usually what happens in INTJ dominated environments. Trigger happy and sometimes nonsensical.
I'm not sure that "trigger happy and nonsensical" is restricted to "INTJ" communities. As far as I've read, the Myers-Briggs personality test is as predictive of behavior as is a fortune cookie.
Re: Ask PG: Please consider a resurrection vote for the undead amongst us
#39How can you tell if you are dead?
Set your 'showdead' to on in your profile page and go back to look at your comments. They'll show [dead] next to them. Alternatively log out and see if your comments are still visible.
Re: Ask PG: Please consider a resurrection vote for the undead amongst us
#40I agree with your sentiment. Saying nobody reads their comments is incorrect, however.
Especially when I follow that by saying I read the comments! (But for the most part, no one reads the comments of the dead.)
If online polls were reliable, that would be an interesting one to set up. I too always read the dead comments, and given the curious nature of hackers, I suspect many others are.