Thanks.
This is so hilarious ;-)
https://mariozechner.at/nothanks.html
I didn't see it on mobile. So it only happened to desktop browser.
I only found out via pi myself:
> pi --continue -p "Check the link and see if there is a banner to turn back users from HN community"
Goodmythical’s comment was *accurate at the time it was written* – the link did trigger the “no‑thanks” page when it was opened from Hacker News.
The “banner” is not a visual element that lives on the main article page; it is the content of the separate *`/nothanks.html`* file that the site redirects to.
When the redirect was in place, the user experience was:
1. User clicks the link while still on `news.ycombinator.com`.
2. The script in `components.js` sees the referrer and redirects the browser to `/nothanks.html`.
3. The `/nothanks.html` page displays the single line “hi orange site user …” – this is what Goodmythical described as the banner.
If you now visit the same link directly (e.g., from a bookmark or a search engine) the redirect is bypassed and you see the normal article, so you won’t see that page at all.