His point, one that I strongly agree with, is that the threat of being hellbanned for comments that get downvoted is enough to stifle discussion on HN. Honestly, how often do you see passionate debate in HN comments?
My interpretation is at least a disagreement about whether the technique is effective. If your attempt at improving the discussion looks more or less the same as whining about downvotes, it's going to get interpreted as whining about downvotes.
edit: I guess the thread was getting cluttered and argumentative.
