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Comment by dmos62 | Hacker News Reader

What you probably mean is that this user is often active in similar topics. What your comment might be interpreted to say is that cbmuser is paid to participate, as in troll farming. Whatever you meant, let's try and steer away from what might be seen as inflamatory remarks.

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Not sure if that's typical, but my perspective is this: I know almost nothing about energy infrastructure, and even less about local conditions and history in that field. I do tend to lend credibility to HN users who seem to have detailed knowledge, like cbmuser. However, I also see that they are often engaged in heated discussions where basic statements of facts are disputed on both sides.

With that in mind, I don't see why it would have to be inflammatory to ask cbmuser if a) they work in that field b) there are potential conflicts of interest and c) what their general outlook is. Even if there is a conflict of interest, that wouldn't invalidate their positions, of course, it's just something to keep in mind when reading.

Edit: you're right dmos62, this comment was a bit trite. I can't delete it anymore now. Thank you for clarifying anyway!

I don't think it's inflamatory to investigate some user. We all tend to lend credibility to those we perceive as having detailed knowledge.

What I was talking about is that the topic of this thread is unfortunately inflammatory due to regional politics, so we should be careful to maintain a standard of discussion.

I'll say it, that user reguritates rhetoric and talking points that happen to be aligned with a multi-billion lobbying industry, but they're always packaged in social media comment sized appealing package.

Very few on HN actually work in the energy industry and so anything that "sounds about right" gets accepted if the person says it confidently. Unlike anything related to computer languages, where there are people who also know the topic techncially to debate.

It's a case of "those who speak do not know, those who know do not speak" because to do the topic justice would be a longer comment than anyone wants to read, and it cbmuser's ignorant comment is sure to be at the top.

Insinuations of astroturfing and shillage are not allowed on HN without evidence. If you want to know more about why, it has been explained countless times over many years—see the links below. The short version is that internet users have an overwhelming tendency to imagine this into other people's comments, so there needs to be something objective to go on, and someone else having a different opinion is not objective evidence.

https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

Nah, I disagree with him a lot, too, but I recognise the nickname from other communities. He's just a dude who's very passionate about nuclear power and, iirc, holds some other views I strongly disagree with. But he's entitled to his views and opinions. I'm much more annoyed by the people who vote his comments to the top :)

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