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by erkIfShen 2763 days ago
The author admitted to vote-brigading on IRC. Some 50 or so of the votes are from the author's group of upvoting friends and alternate accounts.
1 comments

That's some fevered imagination.
Don't lie; it makes you look foolish.

    07:48 <xkapastel> HAX
    07:48 <xkapastel> `slikts: a self post made it to #1
    07:48 <xkapastel> what kind of witchcraft is this
    07:48 <`slikts> xkapastel: just need to get initial traction
    07:48 <xkapastel> must be nice having a botnet
    07:49 <xkapastel> tbh :)
    ...
    07:52 <simpson> `slikts: So *did* you stuff the ballot box with upvotes?
    07:52 <xkapastel> there's some voting ring
    07:52 <xkapastel> the first post was a smiley from one of his friends, but afaik people do this sort of thing a lot so it's not really a big deal
    07:52 <`slikts> simpson: very slightly
    07:53 <`slikts> I don't have anything that could be called a botnet
    07:53 <`slikts> but from past experiences it takes just a few votes to get past the initial bump
    07:53 <xkapastel> too bad, a botnet is a good application of concurrent programming
    07:54 <`slikts> also strategic timing counts
    07:54 <`slikts> around now is the prime time to share content
    07:54 <`slikts> middle of the week when US is getting up
That "first post was a smiley" indeed. [1]

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18502760

"Very slightly" means that I shared that I'd submitted it here; realistically a couple of upvotes could have come from that, but I don't know. The talk about botnets and whatnot is just hyperbole. You inferring alternative accounts and pulling numbers out of thin air is ridiculous.