I realize the article isn't actually about a chat service, but I continue to be confused because there exists Riot[1], the messaging client of the Matrix network.
[1] https://riot.im/
Off-topic: do you guys at matrix/riot have a bot that automatically creates a ticket when it finds keywords such as {IRC|messaging|chat} in any hn thread without any mention of {riot.im|matrix.org} URL being also in the comments? Honest question.
Isn't there a publicly hosted database of hn comments so someone could make stats on this topic? I'm sure you are close to 100% match.
Isn't there a publicly hosted database of hn comments
Yes. There's a few HN APIs/sources out there: