No, he was hellbanned. His comments were automatically marked dead no matter what he was saying. It was a huge mark of disrespect towards him, isolating him and belittling him like this. No doubt worsening his mental state. The moderators of HN have blood on their hands.
Blaming an internet moderator for driving someone to suicide by simply enforcing community standards is extremely callous. You're actually doing more damage with your moral judgement by trying to bring down someone else.
Now I read many of Terry's comments without ever turning on showdead. Even if he were hellbanned, it would've been a consequence of his actions regardless of the reasons behind them.
But maybe it's not even worth responding to somebody who creates a throwaway to make such statements.
The most awkward part was when people would talk about him as if he weren't active in the threads.