This is fucked IMHO. If we start the censorship game in Bitcoin, we're toast.
Discussion
You new here?
Cries of censorship on Bitcoin Core pull requests seem to happen every few years at minimum.
New here in what sense? I'm not a Bitcoin core dev, and no I am not deeply in tune with the social dynamics of Bitcoin pull requests, but I've been around long enough to remember r/bitcoin & r/btc censorship and I don't think that was necessarily a net positive for Bitcoin as a whole.
What was basis for banning Mechanic exactly?
Rule #2: "Comments will be about ideas, not people."
https://github.com/bitcoin-core/meta/blob/main/MODERATION-GUIDELINES.md
Fair enough. Not sure his comments warranted being labeled "abuse" and him being banned entirely though.
Streisand Effect
Apparently pointing out the publicly known financial incentives behind an idea is off limits.
It's a useless argument at best. I wouldn't call it ban worthy. It doesn't really say anything about the actual merit of the idea. Someone benefitting from something doesn't necessarily make them bad or wrong. It IS warranted as a caution sign, but only in the absence of a valid argument from the opponent. If they say "just cuz" then I'd say conflict of interest probably is their only reason.
It doesn’t seem pointing out the conflict of interest is being used as an argument to the idea. It reads more as a request for transparency within the medium where the conversation is taking place.