Keep in mind that there are 400+ YC founders out there now, and we roll deep. A lot of us do keep tabs on Hacker News and we do vote up and support our friends.
I'm not familiar with the term 'juice' but I think you admitted to what the GP was in spirit complaining about. I recognize there isn't any ill will here, and you're only naturally supporting your friends (of which you have more than most folks on HN), but this isn't very different from a voting ring on Digg.
I'm not complaining coz I'd do the same if I was in YC. HN is just like TechCrunch in that YC startups 'unfairly' get more exposure than non-YC ones. Building unfair advantages is essential to startup success.
I'm pretty sure there is nothing unfair going on here. This is news.ycombinator.com and people who come here care about ycombinator companies. The YC related posts aren't bigger or any different from others and I think they are submitted the same way.
It's not YC doing anything, just us the audience clicking on the arrows.
I wasn't complaining. I enjoy this place a ton, but it's pretty obvious when a 20 minute old submission has 80 votes for it and zero comments. [citation needed]
I'm not complaining coz I'd do the same if I was in YC. HN is just like TechCrunch in that YC startups 'unfairly' get more exposure than non-YC ones. Building unfair advantages is essential to startup success.