It takes the minority of users like me who visit https://news.ycombinator.com/newest often and upvote new stories that look interesting. If it gets 4-5 votes early (like within 30-45 minutes), it usually makes it to the front page.

BTW I did not upvote this story.

Tips for developers' most loved editor gets a lot of positive attention.

Same here. You would think editor-related content would make the front page more frequently.