I can't help but be amused in the irony that this says it requires more points than prior to hit the front page, yet appeared on the front page with only 3 points.
I have noticed that when I use a mobile app to browse HN, I'm far more willing to keep going past the front page, if only because it doesn't require clicks to do so.
I'd suggest an option for forever-scroll presentation for the article list.
EDIT: A quick Google search turned up this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4484616
EDIT2: Sadly broken, scrolls once then I get an error in the console. I may end up fixing it and forking.
I wasn't aware of that…
My own HN submissions never made it to the front page without gathering two upvotes first. Those are pretty hard to get without a voting ring (err, two friends). There's the "new" page all right, but new stories come so fast there that it never lasts more than an hour.
Once you get past the "front page" threshold however, points tend to flood in. The second vote is probably worth several dozen votes on average.
Reddit sub-forums however lets new submissions land in the front page directly. Unsurprisingly, this makes voting pattern much more predictable (at least on r/programming and r/crypto, which are basically the only forums I go to).
Then have 1000 euro/month pro accounts to bypass having to work for your precious.
I have never seen anything on the homepage with < 3 points.
As long as it's off by default. Infinite scroll is a major time sink.
As long as it's optional - if I get to the bottom of the front page, that's my trigger to stop wasting time here and get back to work. :P