I am not sure if it is astroturfing but I sure remember people apeshit when car manufactures tried to do same thing (including John Deere that AFAIR still uses DRM for parts.)

How often are people grabbing tractors out of people’s hands while walking down the street?

I think it's unfair to call anyone who has a differing opinion than you an astroturfer.

The guidelines specifically calls this out, even.

> Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents, and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email [email protected] and we'll look at the data.

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

It's an article about Apple, did you expect anything other than cultists defending their beloved multi-national corporation?

People have been complaining about Apple cultists since at least the original iPod, 20+ years ago. Probably before then too.

In the intervening decades, Apple has managed to grow their “cult” following exponentially, by hundreds or even thousands of times the size that it used to be.

Do you ever stop and wonder why that might be exactly?

"Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, bots, brigading, foreign agents and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email [email protected] and we'll look at the data."

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

https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...

Please stop defending corporations by hiding comments critical of them.

Critical comments about corporations are welcome on HN, and it's not as if the site lacks for those! But we want substantive, interesting criticisms. Not the internet clichés, reflexive putdowns, outright fantasies, and other detritus that forums tend to accumulate.

Putting down other commenters as "astroturfers", "shills", etc., based on zero evidence other than someone having an opposing view (which is to say, no evidence at all) is the oldest forum cliché in the book, and one of the most damaging, so we don't allow it here, and haven't for many years. HN discussion quality hasn't suffered from that—it benefits from it, and would benefit even more if everyone would stick to that rule.

https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...

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

But you still allow outright trolling on this platform:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37646378

People do things they shouldn't. That doesn't mean they are "allowed". By that argument, the law "allows" crime.

Your link makes the point nicely, since users responded quickly to that comment by flagging it.