How about if HN itself takes a snapshot of the submitted article as soon as it hits the HN front page? For example, HN could cache the article or generate a PDF

How about if HN itself takes a snapshot of the submitted article as soon as it hits the HN front page? For example, HN could cache the article or generate a PDF, then if the site doesn't load, the cached version or PDF would be served. This might be good as a historical resource because even good stuff disappears off the Internet, and if it made it to the HN front page, it's probably good. (I know, can't do this because copyright. But the Wayback Machine has survived by deleting content on request.)