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You should check out the submission guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html note that it

You should check out the submission guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html note that it says: On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic. This post doesn't fall clearly in the "Off-Topic" section, so it seems completely appropriate.

obiefernandez 10y ago
Okay, thanks for the explanation. It's just frustrating that something like this that is somewhat offtopic makes it onto the front page for quite a long time with only 18 upvotes and no discussion. Mysteries of the algo, I guess... or abuse.
- codezero 10y ago
  One of the stated things about the front page algorithm is that it'll often take a random story and put it at the bottom of the FP to feel things out. I think it adds a good mix of stuff. If this story doesn't take off or generate discussion, it'll slip off pretty fast :)
- sdegutis 10y ago
  AFAIK the algorithm is very naive, only taking into account number of up-votes and how long since it was posted to determine whether it goes on the FP and how quickly, and humans manually moderate to filter reposts and other against-the-rules content out of FP. So basically, this is on the FP because enough people are interested in it. Now if you're wondering why they're interested in this enough to up-vote it to FP even though it's not about start-ups, techs, or futurism, well that's more of a coincidence than anything else. HN is ostensibly a forum for intellectual conversation, and that's it. This link tries to do just that, so it counts. In reality though HN is a business move. It's basically a niche forum geared towards the target customer base of YC and YC's affiliates and start-ups. That's how they advertise to them. The real mystery here is why I'm not putting this kind of knowledge and insight to work toward making me a millionaire. I'm literally the same age as Sam Altman, yet I'm barely able to feed a family of 7. FFS.

obiefernandez 10y ago

Okay, thanks for the explanation. It's just frustrating that something like this that is somewhat offtopic makes it onto the front page for quite a long time with only 18 upvotes and no discussion. Mysteries of the algo, I guess... or abuse.

codezero 10y ago
One of the stated things about the front page algorithm is that it'll often take a random story and put it at the bottom of the FP to feel things out. I think it adds a good mix of stuff. If this story doesn't take off or generate discussion, it'll slip off pretty fast :)
sdegutis 10y ago
AFAIK the algorithm is very naive, only taking into account number of up-votes and how long since it was posted to determine whether it goes on the FP and how quickly, and humans manually moderate to filter reposts and other against-the-rules content out of FP. So basically, this is on the FP because enough people are interested in it. Now if you're wondering why they're interested in this enough to up-vote it to FP even though it's not about start-ups, techs, or futurism, well that's more of a coincidence than anything else. HN is ostensibly a forum for intellectual conversation, and that's it. This link tries to do just that, so it counts. In reality though HN is a business move. It's basically a niche forum geared towards the target customer base of YC and YC's affiliates and start-ups. That's how they advertise to them. The real mystery here is why I'm not putting this kind of knowledge and insight to work toward making me a millionaire. I'm literally the same age as Sam Altman, yet I'm barely able to feed a family of 7. FFS.