Ask HN: Why can't I comment on a link I just posted?

2 points by cx42net ↗ HN
I just submitted a link on HN (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36289888) and wanted to provide a comment to explain a bit more about my submission, but I cannot comment on this, there is no form.

Why is that? Is my link pending review or moderation first?

8 comments

[ 4.4 ms ] story [ 24.6 ms ] thread
it appears the site its from is banned from HN
Hum! The link is from Sciencealert.com. Where did you see it was banned from HN ? Is there any reasons why ?
The article ends with "This article is republished from The Conversation". I'd guess it goes against "If a post reports on something found on another site, submit the latter." (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html).
Indeed, posting the original link works directly. I suspect that HN has blacklisted ScienceAlert as a reposting website.

Thanks for your help :) I posted it with the original link and will mention the reasons and details (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36290333)

> Where did you see it was banned from HN ?

I looked at the submission history and saw that ~all of them were marked as [dead], that's usually a site-ban then. (you might need "showdead" enabled in your settings to see that)

HN mods can confirm this, and cx42net (or any other submitter) is encouraged to email mods at hn@ycombinator.com for this or other issues. I'd done so myself on a recent submission that was autokilled.

As for ScienceAlert, looking at submissions from the site strongly suggests it's banned:

<https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=sciencealert.com>

That can be lifted for specific instances on request.

Though in this case, the disambiguated link from The Conversation would be preferred: "Please submit the original source. If a post reports on something found on another site, submit the latter."

<https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>

I see your topic as [dead]. I don't know anything about moderation here but the HN allows me to vouch some topics, maybe because I have high enough karma and I have set showdead option. That means that some kind of a moderation system (probably automated or semi-automated one) marked your post as kind of bad and somebody needs to vouch it.

I do not want to vouch your post, because I do not want even to read anything tied to UFO events.