Makes me wonder if there is a secret HN upvote economy too.
Edit: yep, quick search turned up a site to buy upvotes. All these vibe coded slop projects getting to the front page make sense now
When there is a buyer, sellers will show up.
This only exposes human nature.
Don't underestimate stars given by claws without direct instruction from humans. Not bought or sold, but not real either.
Once stars started becoming a marketable metric, it's pretty much inevitable that they would be purchasable. Same as any other bot review market I suppose