[alexanderss]

That's simply not true. minimaxir just linked to hundreds of Twitter results (as recent as yesterday) of you favoriting and positively commenting on tweets from companies that are explicitly asking for upvotes on their products. I also learned that Product Hunt does this because I've heard/read you specifically mention it in interviews, saying "it grows the site."

https://twitter.com/search?q=product%20hunt%20upvote&src=typ...

[rrhoover]

I favorite to show people I'm listening (read-receipt). It's not an endorsement for asking for upvotes. I realize how this would be misinterpreted so perhaps I'll avoid that in the future.

[alexanderss]

Wait, what? By showing companies "you're listening" to their astroturfing, you are even more actively condoning it. And you ignored this part, but aside from all the tweets and favorites condoning astroturfing, you've said and written that having companies beg users and social networks for upvotes is a growth tactic for Product Hunt. Just come clean when you're called out, man.

[rrhoover]

I've never told makers to beg for upvotes and in cases where people have incentivized people (e.g. donating money to charity for every upvote -- yes, that happened), we've removed the post entirely.