A lot of comments in the thread have more points than the thread itself. Maybe for getting on the front page threads should count as their own score or the score of the highest comment they contain, whichever is higher?
Like over the summer there was this guy called "Y@mada" who weaved a boring tale of caution and tempering PGs unabashed optimism with some feet on the ground practicality as the economy was going to crash in a major way any second now. Obviously he was wrong because everything is smooth sailing, but PG didn't like this pessimistic world view so despite forums with like, 50-60-70+ posts, eventually the posts would just be deleted / marked "dead", etc.
But try something else. Put up a post like, "Ask YC: Do you sleep on your stomach or on your back, and which do you think is better for an aspiring programmer" and I GUARANTEE YOU that post will be up forever, sparking countless debate.
You think it's an interesting idea. I do as well. The poster does. As of now, that's it. Yet that's what I'd expect a lot more on Y.
But so far "is this troll trolling has 2 dozen posts" ... "is t.v. good or bad" attracted PG's attention and the second he comments his army of fanboys instantly add 50 more comments along the lines of "I agree with everything Paul Graham says."
Then new readers see the popularity and get sucked in.
So unfortunately, you could look at thinks like you described above, but something tells me you wish the "Should Popularity-based Advertising" etc. post got as much attention as the "Is T.V. good or bad?" post.
Which I doubt it will. I could be wrong. But I think this time tomorrow you, me and the poster will still be discussing it while everyone is rushing off to make sure everyone knows they agree with whatever post PG just made last.
Honestly when I was refered here I thought most posts would be along the line of the one like Popularity-points advertising, etc.
Creative new ideas meeting with technical talent.