I can assure you that there would never be any chance of paid shill brigades shouting down opposing viewpoints on HackerNews. Instead, as I have been informed many times, posts critical of Trump are being flagged. The posts that make it through then naturally are flooded with independent thinkers who just happen to all be in agreement. I mean, how could you not agree with them, right?

Those who disagree about this particular topic obviously deserve whatever they get here. That's why ad hominem rules do not apply to them, and there is no need to be civil when replying to Russian trolls such as them!!

If astroturfing were happening, it would show up as most anyone critical of the astroturf comments being downvoted and/or flagged into grey oblivion, while the astroturf brigade would present as an unusually large number of comments that all agree with each other.

Anyway, I have been keeping track for a small study I a doing on information warfare, and look forward to presenting my research on this. Am still gathering screenshots and other data. So far, I am in awe at the deep thinking and high level of civil discourse on display here. I really like that folks here show respect even to those who disagree.