Telling driver that he got ticket defeats the purpose of ticketing drivers? Sorry for my bias logic, but don't you think I may want to learn a lesson and become better "HNer"? Hellbanning is like the ultimate death penalty. No warnings, no tickets, no first or second degree, nothing, just "we don't want you here anymore".
If I would get some sort of warning of what I am doing wrong, I may be given a chance to learn. Isn't that the purpose behind coming to HN? To learn?
On HN, downvotes and flags are the warnings and tickets.
Hellbans are only intended for spam accounts and trolls, neither of which is going to change their behavior. Sometimes people that aren't spammers or trolls get hellbanned, but that's an unfortunate side-effect of imperfect algorithms and moderators, not intentional.
If I would get some sort of warning of what I am doing wrong, I may be given a chance to learn. Isn't that the purpose behind coming to HN? To learn?