There should be some kind of moratorium on new accounts. HN's always had waves of newcomers, but their impact was always limited. The wave passes and people either get filtered out or adapt. That doesn't seem to be happening anymore, since bots can churn out endless gibberish.

He did answer you though. Native is x10 the non-native speed. 50/50 that's not a bot; though it could be a meat-proxy