

Ask pg: I know the HN algo is secret, but can you explain something to me? - DiabloD3

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3909868<p>This story I submitted hit the front page, was starting to blossom into an interesting discussion, and suddenly dropped to #1204 (yes, I went down several pages to find it).<p>What gives?
======
chc
It probably got flagged. The penalty for a flag is greater than the boost from
an upvote — it seems like even a 1:4 flag rate is enough to sink a story like
a rock. Possible reasons for flagging include:

• Deepak Chopra is widely considered to be a quack, but the article talks
semi-approvingly of him

• Although the general topic of the article is kind of interesting, the
article itself says very little (sans quotes, it's seven very short and not
particularly info-dense paragraphs)

• The article seems a bit afield from the general focus of Hacker News, so
people might have just thought it was OT clutter

~~~
mattm
> Deepak Chopra is widely considered to be a quack

Can you explain this a bit more? I'm just curious as I've come across his
stuff before but never opposing views.

~~~
chc
Well, his teachings are sort of a weird mix of medicine, psychology and
pseudo-religious mumbo-jumbo, apparently borrowing and adapting liberally from
anything that suits him. For example, he has repeatedly tried to tie his ideas
into quantum mechanics, to the chagrin of physicists everywhere:
[http://www.skepticblog.org/2009/11/16/deepak-chopra-
mangles-...](http://www.skepticblog.org/2009/11/16/deepak-chopra-mangles-
quantum-mechanics-again/)

Needless to say, there are a lot of people to whom this does not signal
credibility.

------
itsprofitbaron
FWIW the HN algorithm isn't a secret[1] it's:

(p-1)/(t+2)^1.5

Where votes are divided by age factor

P = points from users T = time from submission in hours

[1] [http://www.seomoz.org/blog/reddit-stumbleupon-delicious-
and-...](http://www.seomoz.org/blog/reddit-stumbleupon-delicious-and-hacker-
news-algorithms-exposed)

------
RiderOfGiraffes
Based on my experience, and measurements I've made over the years, I would say
that one or both of two things happened:

1) You triggered the voting ring detection code, and/or

2) You got several downvotes.

I do feel that there is a sizeable collection of people here on HN who, for
whatever reason, don't like discussions about philosophy of consciousness and
similar. If you get 10 or so downvotes and only 10 or so upvotes, your item
will sink to the 1000s. I have seen it happen. (based on surmise about flags -
they are not explicitly visible.)

This discussion happened recently:
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3890565>

The item was flagged dead, but the discussion is still there.

HN remains a remarkably civil forum, and perhaps the occasional apparently
draconian measures are part of the price to pay.

------
tzz
Maybe the algorithm detected a voting ring. Did you ask your friends to vote
up the link?

~~~
DiabloD3
Nope, in fact I don't think many people even know I have an HN account.

------
igorsyl
I think the moderators have greater control over content than the ranking
algorithm.

~~~
DiabloD3
Then why have a voting system at all?

~~~
allenbrunson
Because it allows us to have _some_ control over the site's content, rather
than _none at all_.

I agree with the commenter you're replying to: The moderators are really the
ones in control here. And that's the way it should be. If this site was
managed as a strict democracy, it would have been overrun with trolls and spam
years ago, and we would have all moved on to something better.

------
ig1
Probably got flagged

