Hacker News Reader

There are various algorithms around the front page of HN.

For example, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16020089 where dang has a "overheated discussion detector" to try to give things a chance to cool off.

Too much material on a single topic likely also gets down rated (similar to how posts about politics get less visibility).

View on HN

Not working well here then since this should be on the Front Page. Your explanation sounds correct though.

I think of it as "HN has anti-engagement algorithms to avoid single topics from getting too much front page space in a period of time."

Note that there's also a secret page of /pool ( https://news.ycombinator.com/pool ) that has articles that are considered for being given a second shot.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com