no one likes to be insulted. I don't think he would be ok being called a moron either. therefore we should ban "moron".

Exactly that most places actually do ban ‘moron’ in official communications and have done so for ages. It’s an extremely ableist term, it’s does not simply mean “stupid”.

I have to say, most places that go so far as to ban moron also ban stupid.

Who's banning? None of the lists the author talks about actually bans any language. They advise.

I think the point is that if someone does not comply with their advice they might have their life impacted in a negative way, can't get job, grants, ostracized, etc. Which de facto becomes a ban.

"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."

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

I may have worded it better. Provocation is not the best tool.

My point is that there is already a "forbidden-word" list that everyone can easily agree with - which include things such as racial/discriminatory slurs. Then why is it such a stretch to understand that some words actually do hurt people? (I mean I know why - it involves conscious mental work, and human brain is optimised for shortcuts.)

One might be dissatisfied with some words in "the list", but what I see here is the rejection of the very idea that such lists have value. People who are affected by those words should ultimately be the deciders on the usage of those words, not people who have privilege.

While it may feel like it's "only something", it's still better than what was before - namely, nothing.