We nearly always inform people when we ban their accounts: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hn.algolia.com&#x2F;?sort=byDate&amp;prefix&amp;page=0&amp;dateRange=all&amp;type=comment&amp;query=by:dang%20banned" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hn.algolia.com&#x2F;?sort=byDate&amp;prefix&amp;page=0&amp;dateRange=...</a>.<p>Lots of software affects both story and comment rankings. 
&quot;Poison&quot; is a rather tendentious way to describe that. HN&#x27;s goal is high quality in all things, to the extent it&#x27;s possible. That doesn&#x27;t just happen by default; systems are necessary, and it gets harder as numbers grow.