4 ms·

It feels nice to spot something on the new list, give it its first upvote, and then the next day see it on the front page. I've also seen a lot of interesting

by btrask 10y ago

It feels nice to spot something on the new list, give it its first upvote, and then the next day see it on the front page. I've also seen a lot of interesting stuff on /newest that never makes it to the front page. Sometimes stuff that I personally find useful, even if it isn't relevant to the community at large. Also, pro tip: page 2 has new posts with a handful of upvotes where one or two more votes can easily propel them to the front page. You can make a difference!

tominous 10y ago
True -- at the right threshold one upvote can mean the difference between a post sinking without a trace or making it to the front page and gaining many more votes and views. In that way one upvote can trigger much more than 100 views.
- gwern 10y ago
  "The importance of a single vote is easy to illustrate: On Hacker News, a popular post can receive 500 votes, which can generate ~50,000 visits depending on how interesting the title is. (I’m pulling data from Algolia.) Using simple math, this equates to" Not even the half of it. I ran an experiment on /newest once, and just a single random upvote (mine) had a substantial effect on the odds that a submission would reach the front page, and since a front page appearance is worth anywhere from 5-20,000 pageviews, my single upvote was driving thousands of pageviews! And I've noticed when submitting my links and then browsing /newest for other meritorious links, this phenomenon doesn't appear to have gone away.
  - nickpsecurity 10y ago
    That's what I was talking about here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13677501 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13677501 Same thing seemed to happen to me whether coincidentally a bunch of simultaneous votes or some algorithm based on karma. I know I was more careful with upvotes on new stories afterward.
    - gwern 10y ago
      Yes, it's possible my high-karma makes my votes worth more. In retrospect, I probably should've done it with a lightly-used account. On the other hand, the implications for me are still the same - I know I take more time to do upvoting on /newest than I did before!

by btrask 10y ago

tominous 10y ago

True -- at the right threshold one upvote can mean the difference between a post sinking without a trace or making it to the front page and gaining many more votes and views. In that way one upvote can trigger much more than 100 views.

gwern 10y ago
"The importance of a single vote is easy to illustrate: On Hacker News, a popular post can receive 500 votes, which can generate ~50,000 visits depending on how interesting the title is. (I’m pulling data from Algolia.) Using simple math, this equates to" Not even the half of it. I ran an experiment on /newest once, and just a single random upvote (mine) had a substantial effect on the odds that a submission would reach the front page, and since a front page appearance is worth anywhere from 5-20,000 pageviews, my single upvote was driving thousands of pageviews! And I've noticed when submitting my links and then browsing /newest for other meritorious links, this phenomenon doesn't appear to have gone away.
- nickpsecurity 10y ago
  That's what I was talking about here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13677501 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13677501 Same thing seemed to happen to me whether coincidentally a bunch of simultaneous votes or some algorithm based on karma. I know I was more careful with upvotes on new stories afterward.
  - gwern 10y ago
    Yes, it's possible my high-karma makes my votes worth more. In retrospect, I probably should've done it with a lightly-used account. On the other hand, the implications for me are still the same - I know I take more time to do upvoting on /newest than I did before!