We try hard not to do that. But it's tricky because many YC alumni do interesting work and/or are valued HN contributors and we certainly don't want to penalize them either.
> We try hard not to do that. But it's tricky because many YC alumni do interesting work and/or are valued HN contributors and we certainly don't want to penalize them either.
Wondered why this got downvoted, then noticed that the throwaway I was replying to edited his comment. The original comment was basically "I'm done with HN! Goodbye!"
Moderation on HN is very strict. If Indie Hackers were 'gaming' the system, they'd be banned. That hasn't happened. The posts consistently end up on the front page because people like the site...
Banning on HN doesn't quite work in so off-with-their-heads a way. There are many forms of gaming HN; the spectrum runs from outright evil all the way to accidental. We try to make the punishment fit the crime, so in general a site not being banned doesn't mean they didn't try to game the system.