Ask HN: What happened to older submissions on HN (only about 500 are visible)?

Since last week I noticed that I can only view about 500 last submissions on HN. From front page pressing "More" at the bottom, right now, the last page I can access is page 17 [1]. The viewable submissions list is growing a little: few days ago the last page I could access was page 14. Few months ago I could easily access page 30 or further (I have never encountered a "last page" where there would be no "More" link).

So, is HN experiencing some technical difficulties, and once they are resolved everything will be back as before? Or this is a permanent thing from now on?

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/news?p=17