I think there's now too much going on and too few people reading /newest for the HN front page to be a resaonably accurate representation of the big stories if a key Rails release didn't even make it at the time :) Seen quite a few similar instances as well. (The real issue IMHO is not enough exposure of or encouragement to visit /newest, so it's pot luck if links get seen.)
There is also that. But as a very keen purveyor of /newest (I basically have every single thing come into a Slack channel) I am increasingly finding gems or even significant news that would have once done well on the front page just never reaching it. There is truly more cool stuff than we have room to show :-) That is a great opportunity as well, though.
I think there's now too much going on and too few people reading /newest for the HN front page to be a resaonably accurate representation of the big stories if a key Rails release didn't even make it at the time :) Seen quite a few similar instances as well. (The real issue IMHO is not enough exposure of or encouragement to visit /newest, so it's pot luck if links get seen.)