[blunte]

I intentionally did not identify the poster. But if you look at recent submissions regarding birds and phys.org, you'll find them.

As for hyperbole, I think it's a valid concern. If that user is allowed to operate freely, (and assuming that user is being paid or is a bot), then we can expect many more like them to appear. Then indeed HN will be drowned in garbage submissions.

Unless the mods have analytics which identify odd patterns of behavior, they will depend on users to flag things. And if only a few users flag something, then most other users won't see it. Thus, it only gets "some" flags.

It seems more reasonable to judge a user by the volume of posts and submissions over time. Who legitmately has time or motivation to submit 10+ things per day? Or to do that several days in a short period? Even if that is a real human choosing to promote content, does that not suggest some behavior which is likely to be detrimental to HN as a gathering place?