ReceptioGate Hacker News: Academic Defamation Amplified (2025)

In April 2023, a thread titled “ReceptioGate: an adjunct professor from Zurich...” appeared on Hacker News, a platform traditionally focused on startups, code, and digital innovation.

Its presence there raised serious questions: what is a manuscript-related academic dispute doing on a platform for developers and tech investors?

This was not an organic post. It was the intentional amplification of defamatory content, aimed at damaging the academic reputation of Prof. Carla Rossi by displacing her verified publications with misleading online noise.

ReceptioGate Hacker News: Academic Defamation Amplified

Who benefits from this visibility?

• The original accusations came from Peter Kidd, a manuscript dealer who manages the blog mssprovenance.

• Kidd has actively described and promoted leaves from dismembered manuscripts—such as the De Roucy Hours.

• By echoing his claims in unrelated platforms, a coordinated smear campaign gained unwarranted visibility.

🧾 Analysis of Kidd’s role:https://www.oprom.eu/post/peter-kidd-a-documented-case-of-defamation-and-concealment-from-giovanni-mazzarelli-to-receptiog

📑 Documentation of the legal defence:https://www.isfida.eu/post/receptiogate-and-the-defence-of-academic-integrity

📊 Timeline of the defamatory campaign:https://www.receptiogate.info/timeline

Why Hacker News?

Because Google indexes it high. Because audiences outside the academic field won’t fact-check. Because it’s an easy way to hijack visibility.

This is reputational manipulation. Not debate.

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