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Comment by Multiplayer

1 day ago

I guess I don't know how HN works. How does this get to the top of HN with 8 points?

It doesn't take too many for new stuff. HN has voting ring protection, so I think if enough unrelated people vote on new stuff, it can make the front page. I've made it on the front page with 6 points before. But if it can't get more points at an acceptable rate while on the front page, it drops pretty quickly.

Sometimes, interested things are boosted by dang. This doesn't seem interesting enough, so I doubt it was.

This is a guess based on personal experience and old HN comments, but I think HN boosts potentially promising links based on how quickly they're getting upvoted (i.e., momentum). If the link doesn't keep gaining momentum after the boost, it'll quickly fall off the front page.

I think the front page is curated, while "new" is where you go to see the "autopilot" ranking.