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We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15074476 and marked it off-topic.

People can vouch for individual comments. That may be the case here.

What's the difference between hellbanned and regular banned?

Hellbanning is "scream into the void" mode. You can login and post and see your posts appear as usual, but nobody else will see them.

Just to add, one can see the posts of hellbanned people by changing the "showdead" option in one's profile to "yes".

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stealth_banning

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hellban

Not entirely accurate on HN since, apparently, all banned users can continue to post, but their stuff shows up dead (thus, they are only invisible to people with "show dead" turned off) and most of them seem to be well aware they are banned.

As I understand it, there's no difference on HN. "Shadowbanned" is another term for the same behavior.