I would say the ranking algorithm has many purposes. Driving quality engagement and discussion, as you suggest, is probably the most important. But I think simp

I would say the ranking algorithm has many purposes. Driving quality engagement and discussion, as you suggest, is probably the most important. But I think simply being “interesting enough” to many users is not the goal. I think the goal is to make the front page as interesting as possible. That’s why HN has already out so much effort into ranking algorithms and moderation and why we think it is still worth improving if possible. We actually haven’t implemented a new algorithm (for reasons discussed in the readme). What you see when you click on our site is the exact same rankings, but with the upvoteRate next to each in addition to the score, which you can click on to see charts with a history of the story’s rank and upvoteRate.