3 votes (which is actually only 2 upvotes) in quick succession after posting will give a story good momentum of votes over time (gravity). That will get it to t

3 votes (which is actually only 2 upvotes) in quick succession after posting will give a story good momentum of votes over time (gravity). That will get it to the front page. As I now understand it, HN will recalculate that story when the next upvote is received (though there is a random selection recalculation to mitigate this as well). So a story may temporarily benefit from 2 quick upvotes (moving it to the front page) followed by no additional upvotes for some time (preventing recalculation). But if the love stops, eventually it will drop like a stone.