Comment by nkurz

> Someone please give me the wink wink defactos here

HN as a website allows many unpopular opinions to be expressed, but a minority of users will flag just about any unpopular opinion. If two (three?) people flag the same comment, it disappears for most users and is marked [flagged] [dead]. Some small population of HN users browse with "showdead: yes" (apparently you've already done this?). If you have enough "karma" (500?) you can "vouch" to revive a topic that has been flagged. Some users regularly do this, and over time, most (but not all) polite and constructive comments end up revived.

As a new user, there's not a lot you can do about this, other than posting your own polite and constructive comments, even if they go against the dominent narrative. If you come across a particularly good comment you think was unfairly flagged that isn't revived soon after, you can quote it and repost to call attention to it. Or you can email Dan (hn@ycombinator.com) and point it out to him. He can be slow to respond, and won't always do what you want, but he'll usually give you an honest answer if he doesn't.