[kimcheekumquat]

Not sure you know how the algorithms on reddit or hacker news work but typically they are a function of some combination of log(upvotes) and time. The log function (or some closely related function that hacker news may use) ensures that the first couple votes are the most crucial to bring submissions higher on the front page. That being said, the variance on these first votes are high and basically determine whether or not the submission will be successful. Date and time also greatly affect how popular an article will be. Thus the re-submissions.