An alternative explanation for sudden drops is the "flame war detector", which demotes stories that are attracting more than a certain ratio of "discussion" to

An alternative explanation for sudden drops is the "flame war detector", which demotes stories that are attracting more than a certain ratio of "discussion" to upvotes (and possibly other factors). With more comments than upvotes, that might be the case here: http://hnrankings.info/11519205/ http://hnrankings.info/11519205/