[perihelions]

There's a much stronger correlation: these accounts (plus a couple others—who are also active in this thread) all comment about one highly specific, niche topic which absolutely no one else on HN does. It's the claim that the Bush-era NASA Administrator, Mike Griffin, is a unrecognized key figure behind SpaceX' founding.

Just query "spacex mike griffin", and it's exactly these accounts (and people who reply to them).

https://hn.algolia.com/?query=spacex%20mike%20griffin&type=c...

[Jtsummers]

Yes, more (very obviously connected, they're literally posting the same comments) accounts have turned up and gone more in that direction after I made my initial comment.

[mlindner]

There was a similar set of users I've been involved with on Reddit that got banned on Reddit for sock puppeting and similarly on Wikipedia who got banned for sock puppeting.