Comment by volaski
10 years ago
Can you give a transparent answer to this scenario?: Let's say I posted a "Show HN". I would email my friends who are HN users, telling them "hey guys i posted something on hacker news, please go to the front page, find a post titled * and upvote!" I just can't think of a robust way to detect this.
I'm pretty sure that doesn't work. But obviously I can't tell you why, or people would soon start getting around it.
Again, eager for counterexamples if anyone knows of any.