This is the first time I've seen it in my HN Replies, but I have seen "* * *" before on https://news.ycombinator.com/. I even saw another comment asking about this type of comment.
Edit: I truly did not believe you, but it appears to maybe be the “delay” feature [0]. Users with a delay set might show the asterisks until the delay passes.
Edit: I truly did not believe you, but it appears to maybe be the “delay” feature [0]. Users with a delay set might show the asterisks until the delay passes.
My apologies.
0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=231024