>The speed of engagement in this thread and the fact it doesn't exist on the front page... or the second

These two things are connected, actually:

>The FAQ notes that submission rank is impacted by "software which downweights overheated discussions." A good rule of thumb for this effect is when the number of comments on a submission exceeds its score.

https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented?tab=re...