You could read obvious shilling here pretending to like or pay and use the boringest B2B SaaS products way back too.

Trying to get a proper grasp of consensus on open forums is hopeless.

I wouldn't say it's entirely hopeless. Just gotta know who's behind the posts. Checking for conflicts of interest is essential. HN is valuable due the fact many notable hackers post here. Makes it easier to know who we are interacting with, what they stand for and who they work for. Invite only communities like lobsters are even better in that regard. Less random accounts adding noise. Some degree of elitism is a good thing.