FWIW, people seem to vastly overestimate the amount of astroturfing that they are experiencing, perhaps because they find it difficult to believe many people have different views than they do.
They are pointing out that Monsanto does it, not accusing anyone here of being a shill.
I thought it was a good reminder that views can be, and are influenced by industry (it's the foundation of modern PR?). I believe it's helpful to make others aware of this.
At least that's how I read it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
> Monsanto has had a huge astroturf campaign online for several years defending/promoting glyphosate (even on this website). ... I started noticing that there were the same users over and over with extremely well-researched defensive responses (the stuff that only someone with a PhD or JD could put together) and it's pretty obvious what's going on.
Seems pretty obviously an insinuation that HN is full of pro-Monsanto astroturfing and I don't think it is a stretch to say it is a commentary on the specific comments in this thread.