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Comment by rebeccaskinner | Hacker News Reader

I was a pretty active member in the comments for a long time and left a few years ago after getting chastised by a moderator and accused of spamming for sharing a link to a blog post I had written, even though the content was purely technical, not promoting any product, and does not contain ads or monetize content in any way.

My impression is that the site was actively looking for any possible reason to remove people from the platform. It’s their site to moderate as they wish, but that’s not a community I want to continue participating in.

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You did not share a link to a blog post. The title was "Effective Haskell is a hands-on practical book way to learn Haskell. No math or formal CS needed" and it linked to the site advertising your book for sale. I removed it because we don't get good discussions out of ads.

I shared the story as I remember it. Memory is imperfect. It's been years since I deleted my account, and I don't have the luxury of access to server or moderation logs.

What I do remember unambiguously is being an active member of the site, contributing regularly and in good faith, being accused of spamming, and the general feeling of hostility that I got from the site.

You got a DM and email with the title and URL when your story was removed. This would've been 2023-08-03 with the subject "Your story has been edited by a moderator", if you want to look back: https://github.com/lobsters/lobsters/blob/86e1d0b6ac6bac5210...

But you're correct on the second part, there isn't a level of activity that entitles anyone to post a sales page with nothing to discuss on it. Your activity was taken into account, though. Typically if a new user's first activity is to post an ad I'll also ban the site or user. I understand the rules aren't as permissive as you wanted, but ads don't start good discussions.

Your post title doesn't sound like spam to me. Moreover, the link you originally shared https://pragprog.com/titles/rshaskell/effective-haskell/ looks informative enough for discussion; it links to PDFs of the actual content to read. HN, for example, didn't delete it when you posted it https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36987260

IMO, the lobste.rs admin's assertion that the post had "nothing to discuss" is a misjudgment that undercuts the rest of their rationalization. My guess is that they're looking for a win on technicality, instead of addressing the myriad of concerns raised elsewhere in this thread.

The link was https://effective-haskell.com/

That website was actually https://web.archive.org/web/20230804152033/https://effective... back in 2023. Even less sale-sy than the HN link.

I don't think the technical win you want is possible or even worth it.

I don't know why you think I want a "technical win" from you, but I'm not seeking your approval. I corrected your mistake about the URL and the policy, like I corrected the author's mistake about what I removed. If you and other sites prefer different policies, it's no skin off my nose.

The vanity of internet moderators never cease to amaze me.

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