

Ask HN: Why did three HN stories jump 100 ranking points in 5 mins? - walterbell

http:&#x2F;&#x2F;hnrankings.info&#x2F;8311860,8312295,8312249,8312411&#x2F;<p><pre><code>  #162 -&gt; #25   Server Migration with Zero Downtime
  #135 -&gt; #11   Show HN: Pup – A command line HTML parser
  #127 -&gt; #23   The Impossible Star</code></pre>
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dang
We've been experimenting for the last few months with systems to prevent good
stories from falling through the cracks. Your left column is the cracks.

[https://hn.algolia.com/?q=author%3Adang+cracks#!/comment/for...](https://hn.algolia.com/?q=author%3Adang+cracks#!/comment/forever/0/author%3Adang%20cracks)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8157880](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8157880)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8134682](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8134682)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8122403](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8122403)

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lobotryas
How do you define "good"? What checks and balances are there to prevent abuse?

This all sounds rather worrying.

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dang
That's a bit vague so I may not be addressing your concern exactly, but it
sounds like you're worried about the front page not being a simple ranking by
community upvotes. HN has never been a simple ranking by community upvotes; it
has always been a blend of upvotes and curation. Why? Because, unfortunately,
upvotes alone would produce a front page of controversy, gossip, and fashion.
Upvotes go disproportionately for 'hot' stories. If we want quieter, more
reflective material on HN—which we certainly do—there needs to be a
countervailing factor.

Re abuse, you'd have to be more specific about what you mean, but I suppose
the general answer is you needn't be more worried about it now than you've
been for the previous seven years, since there hasn't been any major change at
that level. The major change has been greater transparency, because users
asked for it.

