That's a misunderstanding of how HN works. Upvotes don't determine everything here, because the main value of the site—intellectual curiosity—would quickly be overwhelmed if they did. Drama, gossip, and outrage routinely drive more upvotes, even among groups of smart people. So HN is a constitutional democracy: mostly driven by upvotes, but with checks and balances to mitigate the bad effects. The HN guidelines are the constitution and moderation is one of the checks.

No, it simply means they are popular, which is not the same thing as "right".