[jedsmith]

I think the vast majority of top-level comments on that item considered the information dubious or were holding out for independent confirmation; I don't think HN leapt to a conclusion. My comment, one of the less obvious, was more from a good-idea perspective instead of assuming the story was true -- I had not decided yet.

Overall in that item I think HN did better than you imply, unless you mean the upvotes the item received.