
Random Eratosthenes - why we think of primes as "random" - ColinWright
http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/RandomEratosthenes.html?HN2
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willvarfar
still need to wait a couple of hours...

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ColinWright
I'm not interested in gaming the system - I'll see what happens. This isn't a
fair test either - the title has changed a little. I'll also go and re-analyse
some old data I have.

I'm still interested in the data that forms basis of your claim, if you have
any.

EDIT: Actually, it made it to the front page, and now has vanished again. I
suspect it's been flagged, so will never see the light of day again. <shrug>

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willvarfar
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3165679> vs
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3162752> for example.

If you pay attention you'll see the pattern too:

If you come to HN on European mornings the things you like and click on never
really get anywhere; do the same in the Stateside mornings and much the same
stories go up like rockets.

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ColinWright
That's just one example - I analyzed several thousand items and found that
submitting in the European morning had a significant positive effect in
getting to the front page.

That was 8 months ago - things may have changed. If I get time later today
I'll do a different analysis.

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J3L2404
6 points, 27 minutes ago -- Rank 129. What the hell?

EDIT: Apparently pg is tweaking the ranking algorithm as we speak as a 838 day
old post with 4 points was just in the top 100!

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ColinWright
Simple - it's been flagged.

Someone, or a few people, have realized that if they don't like something they
can flag it and it gets hammered, absolutely hammered, never to be seen again.

I'm biased, of course, but I think items that are flagged should be punished
in the ratings. Doing that inappropriately buries good items that someone
simply disagrees with, and at the same time buries spam that subsequently
never gets deleted, because not enough people see it.

I honestly think that flagging an item should not affect its ranking. If it's
spam, enough people will flag it to get over the deletion threshold.

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willvarfar
(how do you know if its been flagged or not?)

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ColinWright
When it gets 6 points in 25 minutes, hits the front page, then drops to below
150, it's been flagged.

