Colin, you're publicly asking about HN secret sauce. PG probably won't answer here because answering reveals how his non-public anti-abuse code works. Just like

Colin, you're publicly asking about HN secret sauce. PG probably won't answer here because answering reveals how his non-public anti-abuse code works. Just like the Google PageRank algorithm, if it is publicly known, then it's easier to game. It's unfortunate, but true.