The other consideration is that the traffic (and submissions) have grown likely 50x plus but the front page still only has 30 slots, and so the 'needle eye' is a lot smaller.

One could argue that a story that makes it to the front page today is much higher quality than one that did so years before.

You get more for 100 points, just like in economic inflation terms, you get more for a consumer electronic that has stayed roughly the same price but quality and features have increased considerably.