Tell HN: You can get ghostbanned for mentioning certain “unpersons.”

Pardon the throwaway account. I have a good reason. About a week ago, I linked to an essay on AI written by someone who made a few people look bad, a long time ago, and got himself un-personed here a few years ago. The essay didn’t hit on any of his “touchy” topics and was inoffensive. I didn’t even name him. I just linked to it. Anyway, I used an alt account for this and I’m glad I did because the account was “ghostbanned”. As in, it looked to me like it had been submitted successfully, but as soon as I logged out it disappeared. You should be very cautious about what you post here. This is not neutral territory. Who knows what other bad-faith ghostbannings and algorithmic manipulations go on that we don’t even know about?
Story Published at: February 8, 2023 at 12:44PM