Ask HN: what proportion of posts get more than 1 point? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: what proportion of posts get more than 1 point?

10 pointssgdesign3 comments

It seems like posting to HN is almost an all-or-nothing proposition: the vast majority of submissions never get more than one point, and sometimes you get outliers who end up with 50+ points.

I would've expected a somewhat more balanced distribution. Has anybody ever done statistical analysis of HN points?

View on HN

I've posted 50 comments in the last 57 days. Here are the karma stats:

  Mean:    6.52
  Median:  2.5
  Max:     42
  Min:     -4   (I think downvotes are capped at -4)
  Std Dev: 8.9

My most recent comments (a few minutes old) are likely to fluctuate a bit over time, but I recorded the scores in a single pass.

For my 21 posts submitted over a period of ~800 days:

  Mean:    18.3
  Median:  1
  Max:     195
  Std Dev: 43
  Killed:  1

It would also be interesting to know what fraction of submissions ever hit the front page. Mine rarely seem to, and die a swift death.

Today's statistics:

54% of threads have 2 or more points.

21% of threads have 3 or more points.

12% of threads have 4 or more points.

7% of submitted threads hit the homepage.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com