Wow, that's one of the most egregious bans I've seen yet. He has one quippy but non-offensive political comment from 3 years ago that was voted down to -7, and then a series of solid on-topic technical comments every few months. Maybe a mod could just restore him without requiring him to email asking for forgiveness? He seems worth keeping around.
That's why everyone should toggle on showdead.
Deferring to taste police ought to be opt-in.
Am I only one who doesn't have a clue what are you talking about and who is jonstewart?
HN "hellbans" users who have karma that's below a certain threshold (0, I think) - the site looks normal to them, but no one else can see their posts. You can see the post if you turn on "show dead" in your profile.