It doesn't look that way. We're happy to investigate these cases if you feel there's something fishy going on, but the guidelines ask you to please email us at hn@ycombinator.com so we can leave the discussions intact.

> Please don't accuse others of astroturfing or shillage. Email us instead and we'll look into it.

> Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html