Ask HN: Why do threads disappear?

1 pointJ-dawg2 comments

A thread I was following (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11559612) has disappeared from 'Ask HN'.

Currently there are several stories on the first and second pages of https://news.ycombinator.com/ask that are both older and have fewer points than that thread.

I was only able to find it from my 'saved stories' page.

How does this happen?

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In this specific case, I assume people flagged it, which sent it far down the ranking.

In general, the ranking algorithm has a bunch of (not precisely documented) other inputs against spam and flamewars which also can change the ranking from the expected value.

If I remember correctly, the ranking algorithm penalizes stories that have more comments than upvotes.

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