Ask HN: Can you still go to the front page with great content alone?

I was reminded when I read "Better Ways to Read Hacker News" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15310291) that I get almost all my content from HN from hndigest.com, an (awesome!) email that links me to the top articles. I basically never interact with the front page at all. I've also noticed recently that it's becoming very difficult for submitted content to get any votes on the new page, even if it's a damn relevant and thought provoking. I'm not just thinking of my own content that got no votes :-) But I also realize that I'm part of the problem... because I only read the stuff that's already gone to the front page. In previous jobs, I worked at companies where we could say, "we just posted to HN - take a look and consider voting (from LTE!!!)." This content frequently went to the front page. Content where we didn't send this Slack message did not - ever. I'm wondering: with all the passive readers, and potentially more content getting submitted generally, is it still possible to get attention on HN with a great idea alone? My personal conclusion is that it isn't, so I've largely stopped posting unless I'm supported by other humans who promise to cast a few upvotes.