Is this community really that interested? Or is there something nefarious going on with bots and upvotes due to Russia being involved?
I wouldn't have ever thought to suggest something like that, but read here recently on a different thread that Russia could be influencing HN through propaganda accounts. I was surprised by that, if true, how would we know? Is an article like this making it to #2 evidence?
Reddit, for example, also had these shifts, but much more so, since they don't even try to be niche in the first place.
I was surprised when I read the suggestion on the other thread. And it got me thinking, how would we know? How could we protect against it?
https://upvotetracker.com/post/hn/28149974 looks completely normal, the story is just interesting
What's a bot affected post look like?
> 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 hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data.
A sibling thread linked to an upvote tracker, which is the kind of thing I was curious about.