It's common for quirky, easy-to-understand technical posts, for example that cover something familiar from an unfamiliar angle, to do well on HN.

This is a FAQ now, I think.

The answer is a combination of:

* somebody submitted it

* people upvoted it

* the algorithm weights new more than old

* lots of people have things to say about it, including recommendations for other tools, neat hacks, and observations on general utility

I'm reminded of this story:

https://stallman.org/articles/on-hacking.html

It goes to show that terminal fanatics still haven't find a simple solution to this problem even after 50 years.

I've been asking myself that question more and more. It seems HN has been slowly becoming a Reddit-lite. There are significantly more low-quality "thanks! this is great!" comments and "witty" one-liners everywhere.

Not to mention posts like these.