Comment by tomhow
12 days ago
OK thanks. We've moved those comments (and this one) to a hidden "stub" subthread.
A reminder to everyone that the FAQ includes this:
Can I ask people to comment on my submission?
No, for the same reason. It's also not in your interest: HN readers are sensitive to this and will detect it, flag it, and use unkind words like 'spam'.
==
For all we know the Solveit guys didn't ask anyone to come and comment here, so we don't want to judge them (and they're good guys who have contributed positively to HN in the past). Sometimes people in a community – particularly an engaged and loyal one like Solveit’s seems to be – can be "too helpful" and act as though they're astroturfing, even though they're just sharing their excitement about the product and community.
The problem on HN is that it can be hard to tell the difference between authentic excitement and astroturfing.
Thanks for the assumption of good faith. We had no intent to astroturf. Some of the students from cohort one were discussing the negativity of the HN thread on the course discord server. It seems that several took it upon themselves to come share their experience. From the comments whose names I recognize, I can assure that these are all real people who have first-hand knowledge of what they're posting about.