I find it to be garbage self promotion when an article with little and/or poor content is submitted by the author and immediately gets 10+ upvotes without any comments, sending it straight to the front page.
In this case, straight to the front page despite many negative comments about the content.
If the article is not an Amazon link farm, it sure as hell reads exactly like one. So much so that my assumption is that the author intended to add in referral codes at a later date when reaching peak audience.
As author has since removed links, this should address your concern. Being wary of Amazon links is probably smart, but referring to something as "garbage" just makes you a jerk.
I've looked at the data and there is zero evidence that the author gamed HN.
You need to stop slinging accusations at people. Gaming HN is bad. We greatly appreciate your and other users' concern about that, and believe me we share it. But undermining civility on HN is also bad, and that's the bad thing that actually is happening here. Please don't do it anymore, regardless of how weak you think an article is.
Yes, and it's ok. (I'm a moderator here, btw, so it really is ok.)
The 'gaming' in question was about getting people to upvote one's stuff. That's against the rules, but we saw no evidence you did it. This is why I chided the user who made that accusation. It's corrosive of the civility we strive for here when people make accusations without real grounds for them.
I have a great idea, since my content is so terrible, lets see what content you can produce and see what the feedback is on it. I bet there will be plenty of people who will say your content is 'terrible'.
In this case, straight to the front page despite many negative comments about the content.
If the article is not an Amazon link farm, it sure as hell reads exactly like one. So much so that my assumption is that the author intended to add in referral codes at a later date when reaching peak audience.