[pcantrell]

Furthermore, once you've voted for an idea, you can't re-vote for it. You get one vote one time for one idea, and its value decays exponentially over time.

So to remain at the top, an idea has to keep getting new votes _from new users_.

The ideas at the top of the list have been there for a long time because they're good ideas, and they having staying power.

(Note that you can change the vote decay rate depending on whether your site is more interested in what's hot now, or what's popular over the long term.)