Ask HN: What is up with all the glitchy and off-topic comments?
marginalia_nu Monday, February 23, 2026I've noticed a fairly sharp increase in junk comments lately. Often new accounts, making posts that are very low quality or sometimes completely incoherent.
I see glitch comments like this on a fairly regular basis:
> 13 60 well and t6ctctfuvuh7hguhuig8h88gd to f6gug7h8j8h6fzbuvubt GB I be cugttc fav uhz cb ibub8vgxgvzdrc to bubuvtxfh tf d xxx h z j gj uxomoxtububonjbk P.l.kvh cb hug tf 6 go k7gtcv8j9j7gimpiiuh7i 8ubg
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47068948#47117224
or this:
> 1662476506
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47121737
or this:
> Аё
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47126475
Sometimes it's coherent, but completely off topic, like this
> when is fivetran coming?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47130567
Is clawd running amok, or is someone running botnet C&C via https://news.ycombinator.com/noobcomments or what gives?