Comment by dang

HN does favor YC startups by letting them post job ads, and YC alums by coloring their usernames. It's important to realize, though, that those two things are all the special treatment YC companies get on HN.

Some other things people sometimes think we do, like promote or penalize stories because they're YC-related, we consciously err on the side of not doing. That's the #1 rule of HN moderation and was literally the first thing pg taught me about it.