"but why it would work for covid doesn't make sense"

This is the way many treatments work. For example, hydroxychloroquine was a treatment for malaria, but doctors found that some patients with autoimmune disease had their symptoms lessened or eliminated as they were treated for malaria.

So, it has become a milder treatment for autoimmune disease in some cases. The scientific community doesn't 100% understand why it's effective for autoimmune disease, but there you go. It seems to work in many cases.

I say this not as an expert, but as someone who has taken it and it has worked for me. I don't care that the mechanism is unexplained.

The mechanism has now been published in Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41429-021-00430-5

You don't seem to know what you're talking about.

The mechanism by which Ivermectin works does make sense, and has been well-established. Look up any of the many binding studies on pubmed for example.

Regardless of this, the results of the great many RCT's speak for themselves.

https://ivmmeta.com

there were some studies that seemed to show that it shrank melanomas. my guess is it is triggering the immune system response. but i just write software, so dont go chugging horse dewormer instead of seeing a doctor because this smart guy on hn said it would get rid of your melanoma.

This. A lot of things generate a broad immune response that would probably improve mild to moderate cases of just about anything. My gf secretly switched my usual horse dewormer for Sanka. On the third day I ate the postman, but I haven't had covid since.