First of all, please kindly don't use language like "pisses me off". This is YC's platform, which it built, maintains and pays for, and works very hard to make good. We are guests here. I don't have a problem with you airing concerns, but I really think it will be more beneficial for you and everyone else to remember that we are guests, and to be civil. Actually, being civil is usually better anyway.

Secondly, regarding your concern - I'm not a mod, but I'll take a stab at why the guidelines are the way they are:

HN, above all else, wants to be a place where hackers find interesting stories and discussions. Meta threads are generally not "interesting", not in the way that HN wants.

But that's not the only problem - the problem with "meta" threads like this are that they are very superficially interesting - after all, they concern one of the few things all of HN has in common - HN. But almost everyone here has ideas of how to improve HN - almost everyone here sometimes has things they would like done different. If every user wrote a post on this, that's all we'd talk about. Moreover, since most users are talking from a position of ignorance compared to the mods, oftentimes what they talk about will simply be wrong without them knowing it.

Therefore, the best solution is exactly what HN asks - email questions directly to them. I've never done so, but from what I understand, they usually answer.

Also, in terms of timing, you couldn't pick a worse time to complain about the moderation - this is literally the time in history that HN has been the most open and straightforward about moderation policies, and they're doing IMO a fantastic job too.