Contrary to what this article states, this type of story domination has happened several times before; the most memorable one for me was the night that Steve Jobs died. For a period of time, every single link on the first three pages was about him.
While records of emails, telephone calls and social network connections of Americans' life histories are being categorized and stuffed into an inaccessible repository in Utah, does anyone else have vivid memories of previous exciting or maybe sad moments involving the front page of HN?
Aaron Swartz's death ended up taking over the entire front page at one point. There was an image showing that at the time, but I can't recall where it was off the top of my head.