Maybe every HN post linking to something Wolfram has written needs an Official Wolfram Ego Bitching subthread, where everyone can say "Wow, guys, I just noticed that Wolfram has a really big ego and does a lot of inappropriate self-promotion!!!!". Then everyone can enjoy complaining about Wolfram's ego there, without it taking over the rest of the discussion. (This would work better if HN offered a way to "collapse" subthreads.)
In principle, you're right, and just not doing it at all would be a cleaner solution, but what are the actual chances of that?
Well, that's the test. I'd love to see the community learn how to do that. Perhaps it means fellow users gently nudging one another in the right direction.
We toy sometimes with the idea of creating an 'overflow' section of offtopicness, but it would be more interesting if HN could steer into the hardest problem, which is (to use your apt phrase) enjoying complaining.
In principle, you're right, and just not doing it at all would be a cleaner solution, but what are the actual chances of that?