5 ms·

Hacker News Front Page Ranking Algorithm (2008)

anthonyu 6y ago
This should have (2009) appended to the title. I imagine that the code for this site has changed a great deal in the last eleven years.
jsf01 6y ago
Is this the actual HN ranking code? It looks like a demo of a lisp.
- krapp 6y ago
  Hacker News literally is (or began as) pg's demo of Arc Lisp. But Anarki no longer resembles what's running on HN currently.
  - jsf01 6y ago
    Never knew! Thank you. Do you know if the current algorithm is published anywhere or do they keep that under wraps to prevent it from being gamed?
    - krapp 6y ago
      I think dang has mentioned they might consider publishing some of the changes they've made over the years but that it would be difficult to untangle the YC business logic from everything else, and they wouldn't have the time to maintain it. But anything to do with voting, spam detection, ranking etc. though, they definitely keep secret.
- detaro 6y ago
  HN runs an evolved version of said "demo of a lisp". So it's probably not the actual code running anymore, but it is a predecessor.
- minimaxir 6y ago
  dang has mentioned several times the algorithm has evolved over the years.
kens 6y ago
That's from 2009 and also excludes a lot of the "secret sauce". I reverse-engineered the algorithm in 2013 [1], but things have changed a lot since then. [1] http://www.righto.com/2013/11/how-hacker-news-ranking-really-works.html http://www.righto.com/2013/11/how-hacker-news-ranking-really...
zxcvbn4038 6y ago
I’ve tried to verify the algorithm in the past but the api doesn’t expose enough information to do so. You would need to be able to see points on the comments, where currently you can only see the points on the comments you made. If I remember correctly the reputation of the voters at the time they voted is also a factor. I completely understand why this isn’t available but if your just really curious how the greatest site around works you reach a dead end there. It can be really facisnating to see the magic numbers and transformations people come up with.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
crazypython 6y ago
The actual algorithm should probably stay secret to prevent manipulation of Hacker News. But, details would be useful to others building similar social networks around other principles.

This should have (2009) appended to the title. I imagine that the code for this site has changed a great deal in the last eleven years.

jsf01 6y ago

Is this the actual HN ranking code? It looks like a demo of a lisp.

krapp 6y ago
Hacker News literally is (or began as) pg's demo of Arc Lisp. But Anarki no longer resembles what's running on HN currently.
- jsf01 6y ago
  Never knew! Thank you. Do you know if the current algorithm is published anywhere or do they keep that under wraps to prevent it from being gamed?
  - krapp 6y ago
    I think dang has mentioned they might consider publishing some of the changes they've made over the years but that it would be difficult to untangle the YC business logic from everything else, and they wouldn't have the time to maintain it. But anything to do with voting, spam detection, ranking etc. though, they definitely keep secret.
detaro 6y ago
HN runs an evolved version of said "demo of a lisp". So it's probably not the actual code running anymore, but it is a predecessor.
minimaxir 6y ago
dang has mentioned several times the algorithm has evolved over the years.

kens 6y ago

That's from 2009 and also excludes a lot of the "secret sauce". I reverse-engineered the algorithm in 2013 [1], but things have changed a lot since then. [1] http://www.righto.com/2013/11/how-hacker-news-ranking-really-works.html http://www.righto.com/2013/11/how-hacker-news-ranking-really...

zxcvbn4038 6y ago

I’ve tried to verify the algorithm in the past but the api doesn’t expose enough information to do so. You would need to be able to see points on the comments, where currently you can only see the points on the comments you made. If I remember correctly the reputation of the voters at the time they voted is also a factor. I completely understand why this isn’t available but if your just really curious how the greatest site around works you reach a dead end there. It can be really facisnating to see the magic numbers and transformations people come up with.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

crazypython 6y ago

The actual algorithm should probably stay secret to prevent manipulation of Hacker News. But, details would be useful to others building similar social networks around other principles.