
Ask HN: Why are accounts that relentlessly spam HN allowed to persist? - masonic
For example:<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;submitted?id=kids_book
======
tlb
The spam catcher flagged all those submissions as dead, so they can't get to
the front page or be commented on. If you don't want to see them at all on the
new page, go to your profile and set Showdead to no.

------
brudgers
The moderators can provide a definitive answer and can be contacted using the
link at the bottom of the page.

If I had to speculate I would give two possible rationals:

\+ Technically, it is easier to divert a known stream of waste with a computer
script than to play the wakamole arms race.

\+ Philosophically, persistent obnoxious promotion is not at odds with startup
culture and startup culture is an aspect of Hacker News (for better or worse).

In the end, the contents of the HN front page is not a bad key performance
metric.

------
j_s
If they are banned/shut down/deleted/whatever, that would probably lead to
creating a new account.

Best discussion of HN's shadowban/hellban approach I could find, from long
ago:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6216996](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6216996)

------
masonic
Clickable:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=kids_book](https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=kids_book)

