Comment by PaulHoule

The average post on HN has two votes per comment. If a post is getting a lot more than that (say more than one) it is very possible that a knock-down-drag-out discussion is going on. So the system suppresses discussions that get a lot of comments.

I have a model that predicts the comment/vote ratio for a given headline, high scoring headlines often look like clickbait such as "Salt Bae restaurant charging nearly 700 pounds for a steak cuts heating to save cash" or "Are male and female brains that different? Surely there are better questions to ask"