> Your account is rate limited. We rate limit accounts when they post too many low-quality comments too quickly and/or get involved in flamewars.
Thank you very much for taking the time to try to clarify things! :)
I say "try to" because your statement still does not tell me what I precisely did wrong?
I unfortunately cannot guess it as I stand by my opinions, like most people do probably.
> I recognize that the current system is limited and when you say it makes you angry, I get it. I'd feel angry too.
Thank you very much for the empathy! Good to hear! :)
> I guess in our defense I'd plead that it's almost impossible to keep this place from collapsing, we don't really know how to do what we need to do, the pressures are enormous, and we're limited in resources. (That's mostly my fault, by the way—not YC's—but that's another story.)
I hear your struggle and thank you very much for the effort you're putting in! Don't be too hard on yourself.
You kept the place running for many years, so it's not collapsing!
How about these ideas:
1) If you want people to change their behavior, you have to tell them whats wrong. All I have been told up to now is that I cannot post quickly anymore. This changes zero about my opinions and how I intend to behave. Because I have no crystal ball, I cannot blind guess what HN disliked.
This isn't even an issue of the Internet, it's a general concern of regulation: If humans do not understand why a piece of regulation is imposed upon them, they are more likely to not accept it.
And don't forget: Moderators are humans too, it is entirely possible that you misjudge something to be low-quality even though it is not - but you will never get a chance to learn why you were wrong if the person you judged cannot correct you because you don't talk to them but just rate-limit them :)
2) Use the tools you have already. You could have commented my original post(s) which caused you to rate limit me, and there told me why my comments are "low-quality" or "flamewars" in your opinion.
Also, HN does have a system which is meant to rate content in a community effort, so precisely what is needed to ease the moderation burden - the voting system! If people don't like my posts they could just have downvoted them.
No need for manual intervention.
And more democratic.
3) This is a matter of personal taste, not necessary a strict recommendation, but: Tell people to change before you punish them. I know it's the new normal on the Internet to punish people right away - I just think this is rude.