I do think that HN does a better job than most at containing this (thanks for your hard work).
I don't think that there is any definitive way to prevent or detect this anymore. The number of personnel dedicated to online manipulation has grown too much, and the technology has advanced too far.
These are now discussions that states and oligarchs have interests in, not Juicero or smart skillet astroturfing. And this remains a forum that people use to indicate elite support for their arguments.
All is not lost, though: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...