Check out “how are stories ranked” in the FAQ: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html
Overheated discussions get demoted. I think the idea is that the comments should support discussion of the content, but not usurp it.
Overheated discussions get demoted. I think the idea is that the comments should support discussion of the content, but not usurp it.
> The basic algorithm divides points by a power of the time since a story was submitted. Comments in threads are ranked the same way.
> Other factors affecting rank include user flags, anti-abuse software, software which demotes overheated discussions, account or site weighting, and moderator action.
It could also be moderator action.
My most viral submission suddenly dropped from the top story to page 8, despite having far more points than anything else on that page, and only being a few hours old. I suspect this happened because it was a negative post about Amazon. The comments were not overheated. Most posters agreed with my sentiment.