This is a feature, not a bug. There are many great articles that 1. are very helpful to read again; 2. you missed the first time; 3. newcomers haven't even had a chance to miss yet. Especially for newcomers, considering the rate that HN grows (an endless summer). But even more importantly, there are some articles that represent what HN is all about. There's a limited supply of great articles. If they cannot be reposted, how can newcomers ever learn what great articles are?

Therefore, I suggest the opposite: automatic reposting - but only for those "great" articles, in the "HN library" (membership being defined by a special-case vote - i.e. vote for this article to be in the library). These would be reposted on a 6 month cycle, and include the old comments. Biannual resurrection. And to be marked as "library", so you can skip if you want.

But this won't happen, because the existing "bug" already does it (if people vote it up, it was a reasonable repost; the present repost checker act as a low barrier). And pg advocates iteration only for things needed.