I found both of your posts alive in the new list with no votes. They were at about 230 and 270 when I looked, so perhaps you just didn't look deeply enough. My guess would be that your posts "vanished" simply because they got no upvotes. I also found a slightly earlier post that (at this point) has 6 up-votes: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8361341
It is true that some topics are penalized by the system, and some are automatically killed. Browsing with "showdead: yes" will give you a feel for which these are. Most of them are straight up spam, although some are good posts from 'hellbanned' users. The moderators kill or penalize things as well, but more commonly it's flagging by regular users that pushes hot topics off the front page. Yes, this can be viewed as a form of censorship, although "active moderation" might be more exact.
I'm less certain about the silent hellbanning, but I think overall the degree of moderation is a positive. While there are costs, it's done an admirable job keeping HN usable and readable as it's grown. Not all news needs to be on the same site. If a post is divisive and unlikely to create useful discussion, perhaps it's better to keep the flames down by keeping it off the front page. While I'm sure there is some moderator prejudice toward specific topics (both conscious and unconscious), I think this standard gets applied fairly evenhandedly.
Email sent to "hn@ycombinator.com" will usually get a quick response to questions about specific situations.
It is true that some topics are penalized by the system, and some are automatically killed. Browsing with "showdead: yes" will give you a feel for which these are. Most of them are straight up spam, although some are good posts from 'hellbanned' users. The moderators kill or penalize things as well, but more commonly it's flagging by regular users that pushes hot topics off the front page. Yes, this can be viewed as a form of censorship, although "active moderation" might be more exact.
I'm less certain about the silent hellbanning, but I think overall the degree of moderation is a positive. While there are costs, it's done an admirable job keeping HN usable and readable as it's grown. Not all news needs to be on the same site. If a post is divisive and unlikely to create useful discussion, perhaps it's better to keep the flames down by keeping it off the front page. While I'm sure there is some moderator prejudice toward specific topics (both conscious and unconscious), I think this standard gets applied fairly evenhandedly.
Email sent to "hn@ycombinator.com" will usually get a quick response to questions about specific situations.