Please read the site guidelines and keep insinuations of astroturfing off HN unless you have specific evidence.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Lots of past explanation here: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...

Specific evidence of astroturfing would involve combing through IP and moderation logs.

I don't understand why insinuating the integrity of this forum is compromised - as if that's personally offensive to you. Do you not know what sock puppets are? Do you realize there's a market for it, and FB isn't above bidding?

This story is from 2017. By 2023 I promise you news will leak of FB using sock puppets. Sorry if that's offensive Dang.

It's not so much that it's personally offensive. It's a moderation issue because such comments (a) add noise, (b) undermine trust, (c) are extremely common, and (d) are overwhelmingly imaginary. I say (d) based on personally having studied this data closely for years.

If you look through the past explanations at https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme... you'll find plenty of...past explanations.

Maybe so.

But doesn't HN scan for concerted behavior?

Of course they do. I don't question the if, but I'm curious about the number...