> > to what extent are there entities that manipulate the arc of the HN narrative(s) via down vote, purposeful distracting comments, and so on? How often does t

> > to what extent are there entities that manipulate the arc of the HN narrative(s) via down vote, purposeful distracting comments, and so on? How often does this happen? If not at all, how can that be? If that happens and it's ideological then how is that not fair and square? It's just a bunch of people who are particularly ideological about something, it happens. The worry becomes if they are paid to comment and upvote/downvote, that's a whole different matter, but it's hard to prove, but I also suspect it's very hard to conduct such campaign especially on an obscure site like HN.