How Hacker News ranking really works: scoring, controversy, and penalties

Ironically, my article has been penalized off the front page. Based on its raw score, it should be about #6 but it is currently #32.

Does "Hacker News" in the title apply a hefty anti-meta penalty? Or is it just people flagging anything about moderation, fearing the typical empty speculation? (That doesn't apply to your post, it's interesting and has lots of supporting data.)

Really interesting how you figured that out. The penalties strike me as unfair and pretty arbitrary. I like articles with more discussion for example.

Hmm. I wonder: there's no cutoff for the controversial filter? Meaning a post with only one vote and two comments is considered controversial?

No, it only applies when there are 40 comments or more.

Doh! I missed that.

The article did say that 40 comments is the minimum cut-off before the flamewar penalty is applied.

However, the flamewar detector seems to be throwing the baby with the bathwater in many cases, with legitimate stories going off the front page(and then some posters mistakenly assuming it was because of flagging).

Here's a very good post about the chilling effect of the flamewar detector.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6597049