Another major algorithmic down-ranker is vote wars on comments.
If lots of people are upvoting and downvoting the same comments, that's treated as a signal the topic is contentious and people are likely to start behaving badly.
HN is very clear they prioritize good behavior as the long term goal, and they are as a result comfortable having contentious topics fall in the ranking even if everyone involved in the discussion feels the topic is important.
If lots of people are upvoting and downvoting the same comments, that's treated as a signal the topic is contentious and people are likely to start behaving badly.
HN is very clear they prioritize good behavior as the long term goal, and they are as a result comfortable having contentious topics fall in the ranking even if everyone involved in the discussion feels the topic is important.