Correct. It looks like your submission got swooped on by a bunch of users/friends/fans who decided to "help" and didn't realize that on HN this kind of "help" actually hurts.

This situation typically pattern-matches to the submitter being part of the ring, so I assumed that was the case here. Sorry! The "you guys" part still applies, of course, to the ones who actually did the voting and commenting.

(When I say "ring" I don't necessarily mean a conscious ring with the intent to manipulate. Sometimes people just haven't read the rules and are assuming that behavior is ok that isn't ok, or sometimes they pass a link around without considering the likely consequences of doing so.)