Looks like we have a race condition that someone triggered by using a script to rapidly upvote and then unvote the submission. I'm not sure whether to be grateful or pissed. Perhaps I'll settle on grateful once I've fixed it.
In the meantime, please don't anybody else do this!
Hm so not only is it possible to manipulate scores on HN with weird scripts, but mods only noticed this when users pointed it out in this instance, with no automation or logging there to detect something like this?
Do you suppose motivated individuals might have used something like this to bury wrongthink at a time when mods insisted such a thing wasn't happening, and even if it was, it was happening to all tribes equally so really it wasn't a big deal?
My theory is either fudging the display (add/remove votes to prevent people from knowing the real count), or there’s a secret API that some bot found and exploited.
Or maybe it uses negative points when it detects bad actors voting/commenting on it? Just spitballing of course.
In the meantime, please don't anybody else do this!