Matthew Garrett

For me the worst part of HN is the constantly shifting, undocumented system that goes into moderation and flagging. These tools seem to only function for people who fit the narrative PG wants to exist. If you dare to downvote or flag anyone they're fond of, despite how utterly detached from reality and asinine the comments tend to be from some of the bigger 'name' posters, you will suddenly find yourself unable to participate in shaping discussion and social norms. Or worse, they'll just Hellban you because they're that childish. This makes the entire notion of moderation illusory and deceptive, but I think that fits in with the extremely shallow libertarian mindset HN wants to attract. Those arrows are just there to comfort you into thinking the community is what you make of it rather than what a few make of it. It's frankly insulting.