> I just don't have the time or the money to shell out and buy IPs.

You need a Hacker News account to upvote, and obviously having a large number of new accounts upvote something would trip a voting ring detector.

> Furthermore, if you produce something solid, all you'd really need is the first <10 upvotes to get on the front page and let it catch on "organically."

Much easier said than done. The median score of a HN submission is 1-2 points last time I checked. (the discoverability of HN submissions on /newest is an issue, but that's another topic)

And if it's actually solid, it's not the market for vote brigading.

I agree manipulation does happen, but it doesn't mean it works and instead silently penalizes the submission to death.