HN silences people/comments with show dead, I set show_dead=true and observe them because I am human and not without bias and I strive to be open to opinion or vocal/internet (perceived) conflict.

But when you are trying to maintain an image for certain reasons, it's easy to sweep things under the rug… but that only last for so long for there is only so much rug… and considering most mainstream general discourse is more vapid banal bullshit it's not surprising to see how that might effect most viewers/admins apart of crafting such when they make the decisions they do.