I don't know for a fact that you're not part of that elaborate joke, either. A bunch of new accounts all commenting similar positive comments, 'sctb identifies the behavior, bans accounts, asks them to stop and they do. The simplest explanation is, yes, there was spam.
The only accusation (if you choose to call it that) that I'm aware of is the initial comment by 'castis upthread. I don't believe you're part of the spam brigade. A comment like "we can't be sure" when there's pretty clear evidence of what happened doesn't add anything meaningful to conversation. It's tough enough addressing abuse on HN without suggesting, even possibly in jest, that we shouldn't do so.
This all goes back to the initial comment: if a member suspects there's abuse going on, contact a mod, and let them sort it out. The rest of this is just noise.
Edit to add: Even if it weren't spam in the sense of advertisement for sashido.io, but only a joke, it's still abuse of HN.
Please don't call out other HN members as shills or spam accounts. If you suspect that such activity is going on, do contact the mods via the Contact link in the footer. They actively respond to issues like this.
I'm not sure if it's in the guidelines (and you're right, I don't see it there). I've seen 'dang and 'sctb bring it up multiple times. One such example:
I'll note that 'dang is also pretty consistent about including the "without evidence" caveat as well, which I admit there does appear to be plenty. That said, contacting the mods (which I already did) is going to be the most effective way of stopping the behavior: they've got more information available and can not only get rid of the comments, but the accounts as well. Comments such as your tend to add to the noise, and unfortunately unlikely to stop the spamming. Don't misunderstand me: I'm frustrated by it as well.
