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I am curious on the ranking. I just came back to see if I had any replies in the Snowden thread, and even though it's as old as this post and has 100 more point
by srj 11y ago
I am curious on the ranking. I just came back to see if I had any replies in the Snowden thread, and even though it's as old as this post and has 100 more points and 150 more comments it's on page 3. Anybody knowledgeable in HN ranking understand why that post would be on page 3 and this on page 1?
- ritchiea 11y agoThe HN team often penalizes particular topics they feel like are dominating the front page. As far as I can tell this is typically used to make sure the front page is mostly about buisness, startups and engineering with occasional other topics. But if one topic, like Snowden, starts to dominate the front page HN will not hesitate to penalize it.
- dang 11y agoWe don't penalize topics. We penalize fluff, articles that contain no new information or have recently been discussed, etc. The goal is to have the most substantive articles on the front page. When substantive new information appears about Snowden I'm sure it will do fine here.
- dang 11y agoThree factors: user flags, the flamewar detector (a software penalty for discussions that usually aren't substantive), and a moderation downweight for not containing new information.