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Ask HN: How are submissions algorithmically generated on HN?
I've noticed by observing HN submission feeds that some clear
clustering of submissions occurs as topics with a common theme appear
in the same time window or cascade from earlier posts. It's even
possible to trace that over days.
Now, this seems entirely natural for a community "exploring themes
together" and vibing and riffing off interesting ideas.
But occasionally the serendipity seems bit too much, as if some broad
level topics seem a bit forced. That leads me to the suspicion that
the submissions process is not as organic as some may believe.
It would be nice to have more transparency around that.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- pvg 3y agooccasionally the serendipity seems bit too much You should come up with specific examples, most of this is people just getting reminded of or thinking of similar things (or similar sounding things or things from the same author or from the same site, etc, etc) and posting them. There's even HN jargon for this - 'follow-up dupes'. There are also some bulk posters who bulk-post bursts on some theme or another e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39573748 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39573748 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39573616 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39573616 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39573481 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39573481 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39573129 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39573129