Hacker News Reader

Meta-comment: did this post just get kickbanned [1] from the front page?

I've heard it happens on HN but (as only an occasional commenter) I've never noticed it. It just went from #5 to nonexistent.

[1] excuse the IRC lingo

View on HN

"The controversy penalty can have a sudden and catastrophic effect on an article's ranking, causing an article to be ranked highly one minute and vanish when it hits 40 comments. If you've wondered why a popular article suddenly vanishes from the front page, controversy is a likely cause. "

http://www.righto.com/2013/11/how-hacker-news-ranking-really...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com