I have never heard a person complain about this in real life. I hear other issues with Apple but never has anyone espoused the desire for another AppStore. Everyone loves the ability to mange subs in one location. They enjoy the ease of transactions from the AppStore as opposed to entering cc info or logging into other apps. My less tech savvy friends and family feel safe in the iOS ecosystem. They do think there are issues with low quality predatory subscription apps though. I certainly agree with that.
> I have never heard a person complain about this in real life.
This is all real life. I'm real. What you appear to be saying is that you're judging entirely by the ancedotal experience of the small number of people who you happen to know personally. How many of them have actually requested an App Store refund?
What I can say, as an App Store developer, is that a lot of consumers are totally ignorant of how the App Store works. They email me about problems with transactions, despite the fact that I have no access to customer transactions. I can't even grant refunds. They email me about problems with App Store downloads, despite the fact that I no control whatsoever over downloads. They even email me to "cancel my subscription", despite the fact that my app doesn't even have a subscription.
It all depends on how much one trusts an online forum. Btw, what is your measure for determining astroturfing on HN versus Reddit? I understand astroturfing happens here to some extent but I am not aware of any social media manager who spends money on astroturfing on HN. In contrast, I have heard (second hand) about social media guys paying for Reddit astroturfing.