It's pretty clear to those who watch and take notice. I'm not the only one to have written about this several times in the past, a quick search will turn up several discussions about flags and rankings.

With the continuing popularity of HN the audience has become much more diverse, so it may be that the majority of people here quite simply don't agree with you. On top of that it only takes a few active dissenters to cause items to drop, as said earlier.

So you say "categorically that people LOVE Des' posts." Well, clearly not everyone. And with the range of interests, that's only to be expected.

For what it's worth, I agree that things aren't optimal, but it won't change. So live with it, or build something better.