It's hard to self-reflect well enough to answer that! but I think something like: (1) it's good to occasionally (but not often) have emotional and human elements show up here in ways that differ from what usually shows up here. (Those elements may be good or bad, btw), and (2) if I have to choose between HN punishing people for past crimes vs. HN giving someone a second (or third, or Nth) chance, then I have to choose the latter, even though I don't like either of those choices.

(1) is about not getting too stuck in any pattern and (2) is about not reinforcing a worse pattern.

I totally get that there's a spectrum of responses and that everyone has good reasons for feeling the way they do. I don't think one is right and another wrong. They're all right.

From a moderation point of view the questions are: where is the cost/benefit optimum for the community, and what is most in keeping with the intended spirit of the site?

I don't think punishing people for past crimes should be a primary function for HN. IMO the cost of that outweighs the benefit, and it isn't optimal for what we want here (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...).

That's why I'm willing to make a rare out-of-band exception for a post like this. But not so often that it becomes a Thing.