I'm not a moderator but FWIW:
This link is regarding a technical exploit of an IT system.
Whether the goal of this exploit is profit, blackmail, political, activism, curiosity, etc -- there is nonetheless definitely a technical/IT angle that makes it interesting for visitors like myself.
I imagine HN wanted to protect it's community from something they viewed as tangential to their focus but possibly highly vitriolic in content (to the degree that they influenced the submission, which I'm not sure the level of). Alternatively, it could have been a community self-policing, by flagging articles that they thought were poisonous, or that were viewed as promoting misinformation (do the degree that happened. I haven't followed this closely, but that seems to be a common occurrence shortly after a disaster).
Even Reddit had "troubles" discussing the Orlando shootings.
I think the upcoming election creates an environment amongst many media that downplays certain subjects that may propel mr. Trump into the White House.
The big attacks in France made it to HN frontpage though:
Prince was a powerful creative figure and a direct inspiration to many hackers. He was also a technology pioneer, one of the first to take multimedia seriously and see how it could be combined with art.
If you're ignorant of all this I can't help you. Put the pieces together yourself.
