Ask HN: Is Hacker News Being Astroturfed? I saw a comment on Reddit that said recently astroturfers have started using a pattern that you can pretty much see everywhere. > [top comment] > > [generic question about what to use/buy?] > > > [link to a paid product that is very loosely related to the original subject] (Sometimes even the [top comment] is left out if the astroturfers have figured how to make that second comment the top comment) And I think that comment chain typically becomes part of a sophisticated upvote ring. more