The US presidential election was won with influence and money. Would Obama have won as an independent candidate? In that sense, the election was indeed gamed. Andrew too, is trying to use his influence (his 4630 Twitter followers) to win votes on HN. Because other stories on HN don't have the weight of massive Twitter broadcasts behind them, I view Andrew's actions as gaming the system.
It only takes one or two votes to get a new story on the front page. Past that, of course, it quickly disappears if it doesn't receive more votes - as it should.
Not arguing for or against anything, I just think that "4630 Twitter followers" and "massive Twitter broadcasts" is completely overstating the issue. You only need a couple of friends who also read HN.
