Maybe it would be a good thing for Hacker News to explain this little detail to new readers of the list. I had to post an article first, to really check how post ranking works.

I am not saying that some articles do not deserve to have a better chance of reading, relevant to popularity. Instead I believe it would be valuable to Hacker News to have more informed readers. Otherwise there is a big chance that the "popularity" ranking can be mishandled for a number reasons, from people trying to have a "top" posting.