>The idea that something more nefarious than the bird flue was going on was very unpopular on HN at the time

Because journalists see conspiracy everywhere. It is prudent to wait a bit before seeing malice everywhere

Now we know (or at least - have more proof) what was going on, so the justice system worked. How many conspiracy theories were invented and then turned out to be false? This is news precisely because it turned out to be actually true.