I hope that this is applied on a case-by-case basis, e.g. Rails 5 RC1 was released more than a month ago, and the official release of Rails 5 will be major news when it happens and it would be a shame if it were 'dupe'd off of the front page.

fwiw, I'm glad that this article was on the front page, if only momentarily, because I had missed or forgotten about the previous RC announcement and am interested in this news.