PSA: Please visit the /newest page | Hacker News Reader

PSA: Please visit the /newest page

23 pointszackbloom11 comments

Right now so few people visit the newest page that it is somewhat random what content will actually make it to the front page. I personally have had the same content submitted at different times be ignored once, then live on the front page for eighteen hours after being posted again. Also, it takes so few votes to make it to the front page (2-6), that it is easy for people to game by having a handful of friends upvote their post.

When you're browsing please take a minute or two to visit the new page, click through a few links, and upvote what seems relevant and interesting to you.

http://news.ycombinator.com/newest

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I quit going to /newest once I lost my flagging privileges [0]. I found value in flagging spam, but once I could no longer do that, my contribution to the community was solely voting on stories that had already hit the front page.

[0] You lose flagging privileges permanently if you flag often in a short period of time. There was some major story in which there were 20+ dupes of every story (maybe Snowden's first day or two IIRC). I lost my flagging privileges after flagging too many duplicates.

So be careful about flagging in /newest

Does the flag option just gray out or what happens

It's just not there anymore.

I also stopped going to /newest after I lost flagging privileges (on that day where 25 NSA stories were on the front page at once, as well as filling every slot on the /newest page).

Shame, since I used to enjoy the occasional spam flagging / new story upvoting session. Now that I can't actually offer any help there, it's not really worth going back.

How unexpected - I just noticed today that my flagging privileges have been unceremoniously returned. I'm assuming that it's because of this thread but that may not be true. Did you get yours back perchance?

Funny - I thought the "new" link up in the top menu took you to /new/ and that you were telling us about an even newer page. Where's my coffee...

The HN voting ring detector is so strict, I doubt people successfully game the system consistently.

It happens all the time, I'd go far as hazarding a guess that the majority of the non-generic articles that get to the front page are gamed.

You'd need a lot of friends, but everybody has enough to get a post or two to the frontpage, and that adds up.

Hey, you're not alone :)

The irony is that almost no one will read this.

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