There's enough users that each 3 second downtime is long enough to get someone who submits stories like 'WHY WAS REDDIT DOWN' and enough upvotes to stay on the

There's enough users that each 3 second downtime is long enough to get someone who submits stories like 'WHY WAS REDDIT DOWN' and enough upvotes to stay on the front page long enough for everyone else to see it. And then recency effect kicks in as soon as reddit is down for another 4 seconds later on.