There's no proof that it had anything to do with the poll; that's pure conjecture on their part. The only reason the forum posters feel that way is because it was all they cared about; they wanted EVO to win this meaningless poll. If we take Engadget at their word, they probably didn't even look at the poll when deciding to remove the article; they were more concerned about the quality of the article itself.

My point is, I agree with you; I hate manipulative media as well. That's why I think that on HN, we should not be using sensationalist titles with unconfirmed inferences like the one in the title of this post, and we should be discussing this from a more neutral point of view. Otherwise we're just as guilty as anyone else.

Check your frothing-at-the-mouth fan boy-ism at the door. If they did what you're accusing them off why not just rig the poll so that apple wins no matter what?

They probably quickly realized how stupid this kind of poll is. The online tech community will all run out and vote one way and the actual market will probably do the opposite, so what's the point?