12 ms·

I don't understand how HN algorithm works. Sometimes, submissions like this link seem to magically pop from nowhere?

• AndrewDucker 7y ago
  It's got 39 points in under an hour. That's clearly enough to push it up the rankings. What are you confused by?
  • sunseb 7y ago
    It had first only 4 votes and it was already in the top submissions.
    • elaus 7y ago
      All top submissions once had 4 votes – it all depends on how fast (and maybe from whom) they came.
• buboard 7y ago
  that's how the supernatural works
• me_me_me 7y ago
  You might need to seek a psychics help to figure this one out. xD
• naringas 7y ago
  right now at 12p UTC there's a different set of top stories. I call these Euro top stories. Within the next 2-4 hours USA will wake up and the top stories will change.
  • Sharlin 7y ago
    This would be really interesting to study. Same with Reddit.
  • tcpekin 7y ago
    Having moved continents last year, I think this is very apparent. European morning stores are the day/evenings of the US, and then like you say, between 2 and 4pm the active stories are more highly variable, as the US wakes up.
• kdmccormick 7y ago
  I believe HN will show you a few not-yet-popular posts that it thinks you might be interested in, so that the browsers of "New" aren't the only ones who decide what gets popular.