

Ask HN: How does HN actually work? - sebkomianos

Or, in other words, how do new submissions get votes?<p>Are there people that follow the "new" section closely?
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nostrademons
I hang out on /newest a fair bit. Interestingly, it sometimes doesn't take all
that many votes for an article to hit the front page - I've seen it happen
with as few as 3 if it's a slow time of day. That gives people on the New page
a disproportionate voice in the site.

It's also great for karma, as often you can get in the first comment, and if
it's halfway decent, everyone will see it and hopefully upvote it.

~~~
karlzt
few days ago I saw one with 2 points.

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ColinWright
Older hands are encouraged to scan the "new" page to upvote those that are "in
sync" and "on topic," and flag those that are completely unsuitable. Lately,
though, it seems that the older hands are simply overwhelmed, and there's a
wider and wider spread of material getting upvoted.

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spooneybarger
I spend most of my time on new, very little on the page. What bubbles up to
the main page is sometimes interesting to me, but not often. Most of the stuff
I find interesting never gets more than 2-4 votes; /newest is the place for
me.

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Tekahera
Yeah, I got news.ycombinator.com stuck on "new", refreshing it from time to
time, about once or twice a day. Since the front page stories make it to
@newsycombinator on Twitter, I only check that page when I have more free time
than I can handle, or when it feels like a story might have interesting
comments.

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duiker101
how does people vote up or down? do you need a minimum karma or what?

Anyway, i spend most of my time on new.

~~~
sebkomianos
Have you never voted up/down then?

I thought you can do it from moment one?

~~~
sorbus
There is no minimum karma for upvotes, but there is a minimum karma for
downvotes.

