Usually the price to spam into here is very very high because it is, by comparison, quite difficult.
Im tempted to agree with you - it is a spammer going after the good money testing a new bot.
Merely difficult? Isn't it impossible? Has a spam ever survived here?
Anyway, it depends on your definition of "survived" and whether there is value for the spammer in their story living on the new page for minutes or hours. Our company forums get an onslaught of spam about once per week, and though the spam never lasts more than a few hours (far less these days, as I've added a couple of moderators), it seems to be the same spammer doing it over and over again, so they must consider it worth a shot. When your employees time is almost free (or the work is done by a bot), pretty much any result is a worthwhile result.
I'm pretty sure the fact that spammers do something doesn't automatically mean it's worthwhile. There are some spammers whose stuff has been autokilled for months, but who keep submitting. They can't possibly be measuring the traffic they're getting.
The last request for spamming HN I came across was worth about $1,500 and up for a front page spot.That's a lot for a single link.
I will email it though (you will need to register on a forum and make a few posts I think :) been a while since I joined) if you wish. Which email goes direct to you?
Though I suspect you were attempting to call a bluff ;) oops...