Ask HN: How does HN sort/rank the comments thread?

Comment of pg, 1362 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1398250#up_1398764

> I did recently (about 3 weeks ago) tweak the algorithm for ranking comments, and that has had a noticeable effect. Previously it was the same as the one for ranking frontpage stories. Now it also considers among other things the average comment score of the submitter. With any luck this will keep HN poised in its usual position mid-way over the shark for another 6 months.

AFAIK the exact weights are part of the secret sauce, and the current algorithm may have a few modifications and can change without previous notice.

My understanding is that it's the same as for the threads. There's a "score" which is effectively points divided by some power of the age, with a penalty applied for flags. Then they are sorted by that score.

A version of the source is available - it will be pretty similar.

Why do you ask?