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This post went from mid 20s on the front page to 37 on 2nd page in a matter of less than 5 minutes. What would cause that? Total points didn't go down. It isn't

This post went from mid 20s on the front page to 37 on 2nd page in a matter of less than 5 minutes. What would cause that? Total points didn't go down. It isn't flagged.

c22 1y ago
Other posts going up? HN is very active in the morning.
bryanlarsen 1y ago
It probably hasn't had enough flags to be marked as "flagged", but likely it has been flagged by several users. IIRC, flags below the threshold still act as downranks, but they don't kill the post until there are enough flags.
ahoka 1y ago
There are much more important pop science articles that need the well deserved publicity. Nothing to see here.
layer8 1y ago
Moderators sometimes demote submissions they deem shouldn’t be ranked that high. From https://drewdevault.com/2017/09/13/Analyzing-HN.html https://drewdevault.com/2017/09/13/Analyzing-HN.html: “Of these four interventions (deleting, killing, burying, and downweighting), the only one that moderators do frequently is downweighting. We downweight posts in response to things that go against the site guidelines, such as when a submission is unsubstantive, baity or sensational. Typically such posts remain on the front page, just at a lower rank.”
- mountainriver 1y ago
  This seems to have gotten a bit out of control. I’m not sure who the moderators are but they now appear to be acting against YC ethos
  - nathanaldensr 1y ago
    You're paranoid. Do you have any evidence whatsoever of this? What is the "YC ethos," and why do you get to define it? This story has nothing to do with tech in any way, it's an opinion piece, and it's about Trump. Instant flag as political bait.
    - dttze 1y ago
      There is no solid evidence because there is no accountability for mod actions on this site.
  - jacquesm 1y ago
    YC ethos? That's a good one.
aredox 1y ago
There is clearly an ongoing manipulation going on on HN and outgunning the moderation (if moderation itself is not compromised by a MAGA insider). Many perfectly factual, relevant stories about the Trump administration are flagged to oblivion; same with comments. My personal encounter with the situation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45036597 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45036597 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44939626 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44939626
- lp0_on_fire 1y ago
  Most of these sorts of submissions just lead to Reddit-tier shit posting and many are interested in HN _not_ becoming _yet another_ front in the political flame wars. There isn’t some secret cabal of MAGA types censoring you.
  - triceratops 1y ago
    It's probably due to flagging for both reasons.
    - _mlbt 1y ago
      I can speak from personal experience, this site is not a bastion of MAGA beliefs.
  - aredox 1y ago
    >many are interested in HN _not_ becoming _yet another_ front in the political flame wars. Thanks for deciding that without asking. Stories about the Therac-25 - badly using a computer to control a radiation machine - are fine and often end on the front page. It killed 6 people. Stories about DOGE - badly using computers, big data, AI to save "trillions" of USD - are apparently not fine. DOGE is killing tens of thousands of people, put Musk is close to Trump, so talking about it is "political" and therefore there is no interest in showing on the front page that DOGE's claims are wrong by several orders of magnitude. Stories about Theranos - badly using computers to automate lab diagnostics - used to be fine. We talked at length about how Elizabeth Holmes was hailed as a genius, then how fishy it seemed, then the whistleblowers came and blew the lid off the deception that was going on. Holmes was condemned and sent to detention. Will we be forbidden to talk about Theranos once she gets her pardon from Trump[0]? Because it would be "political"? Are we forbidden to talk about Trevor Milton - co-founder and CEO of bankrupt electric truckmaker Nikola Motors, pardoned in March - was a fraudster[1], when he will inevitably launch a new startup? Will any mention of it be flagged because "we don't want no political flame wars"? [0]https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/06/27/3106882/0/en/theranos-Calls-on-President-Trump-to-Pardon-Elizabeth-Holmes.html https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/06/27/310688... [1]https://www.axios.com/2025/03/31/trump-pardons-bitmex-crypto-fraud https://www.axios.com/2025/03/31/trump-pardons-bitmex-crypto...

This post went from mid 20s on the front page to 37 on 2nd page in a matter of less than 5 minutes. What would cause that? Total points didn't go down. It isn't flagged.

c22 1y ago

Other posts going up? HN is very active in the morning.

bryanlarsen 1y ago

It probably hasn't had enough flags to be marked as "flagged", but likely it has been flagged by several users. IIRC, flags below the threshold still act as downranks, but they don't kill the post until there are enough flags.

ahoka 1y ago

There are much more important pop science articles that need the well deserved publicity. Nothing to see here.

layer8 1y ago

Moderators sometimes demote submissions they deem shouldn’t be ranked that high. From https://drewdevault.com/2017/09/13/Analyzing-HN.html https://drewdevault.com/2017/09/13/Analyzing-HN.html: “Of these four interventions (deleting, killing, burying, and downweighting), the only one that moderators do frequently is downweighting. We downweight posts in response to things that go against the site guidelines, such as when a submission is unsubstantive, baity or sensational. Typically such posts remain on the front page, just at a lower rank.”

mountainriver 1y ago
This seems to have gotten a bit out of control. I’m not sure who the moderators are but they now appear to be acting against YC ethos
- nathanaldensr 1y ago
  You're paranoid. Do you have any evidence whatsoever of this? What is the "YC ethos," and why do you get to define it? This story has nothing to do with tech in any way, it's an opinion piece, and it's about Trump. Instant flag as political bait.
  - dttze 1y ago
    There is no solid evidence because there is no accountability for mod actions on this site.
- jacquesm 1y ago
  YC ethos? That's a good one.

aredox 1y ago

There is clearly an ongoing manipulation going on on HN and outgunning the moderation (if moderation itself is not compromised by a MAGA insider). Many perfectly factual, relevant stories about the Trump administration are flagged to oblivion; same with comments. My personal encounter with the situation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45036597 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45036597 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44939626 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44939626

lp0_on_fire 1y ago
Most of these sorts of submissions just lead to Reddit-tier shit posting and many are interested in HN _not_ becoming _yet another_ front in the political flame wars. There isn’t some secret cabal of MAGA types censoring you.
- triceratops 1y ago
  It's probably due to flagging for both reasons.
  - _mlbt 1y ago
    I can speak from personal experience, this site is not a bastion of MAGA beliefs.
- aredox 1y ago
  >many are interested in HN _not_ becoming _yet another_ front in the political flame wars. Thanks for deciding that without asking. Stories about the Therac-25 - badly using a computer to control a radiation machine - are fine and often end on the front page. It killed 6 people. Stories about DOGE - badly using computers, big data, AI to save "trillions" of USD - are apparently not fine. DOGE is killing tens of thousands of people, put Musk is close to Trump, so talking about it is "political" and therefore there is no interest in showing on the front page that DOGE's claims are wrong by several orders of magnitude. Stories about Theranos - badly using computers to automate lab diagnostics - used to be fine. We talked at length about how Elizabeth Holmes was hailed as a genius, then how fishy it seemed, then the whistleblowers came and blew the lid off the deception that was going on. Holmes was condemned and sent to detention. Will we be forbidden to talk about Theranos once she gets her pardon from Trump[0]? Because it would be "political"? Are we forbidden to talk about Trevor Milton - co-founder and CEO of bankrupt electric truckmaker Nikola Motors, pardoned in March - was a fraudster[1], when he will inevitably launch a new startup? Will any mention of it be flagged because "we don't want no political flame wars"? [0]https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/06/27/3106882/0/en/theranos-Calls-on-President-Trump-to-Pardon-Elizabeth-Holmes.html https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/06/27/310688... [1]https://www.axios.com/2025/03/31/trump-pardons-bitmex-crypto-fraud https://www.axios.com/2025/03/31/trump-pardons-bitmex-crypto...