I genuinely wanted to just add the additional context for the Hacker News community to discuss as it seemed relevant. If you believed the person this was a story from their past. If you are uncertain about the veracity of random posts on TrustPilot (as some commenters are) this was a data point too.

What was initially met with a dozen upvotes as people seemed to appreciate the context then shifted as comments were made about me as the OP and now the point balance is in the negative.

I wasn't intending to "rally a defense" and I was especially not intending a "punch down". I listed my disclosure at the top to ensure everyone knew any potential bias upfront rather than reading and then having to retroactively update their thinking.

I honestly think I'll keep any future knowledge to myself in situations even if I have additional context. I tried my best to remain neutral and upfront and it still faltered. "Make of it what you will" was a literal request and it seems HN decided that I was a shill / defender and reacted that way rather than using the data point or reflecting on it themselves.

A "neutral" attempt to "add context" with regards to such a power dynamic is always always always going to be "don't listen to the weaker party." Always. Because such a thing always and, frankly, I expect was designed to delegitimize the claim.