[prmths]

> It only takes 3 votes for a new story to get on the front page.

That's not true because I've seen posts with far more than 3 languish in the "new" section.

> It drops off pretty quickly if it gets no more votes or if it gets flagged.

I've seen posts with 0 votes stay on front for a long time.

> If you see a story that doesn't belong on the front page, flag it or email the mods - [e-mail].

It's not my job.

> Don't publicly trash the site by speculating it's broken when the site maintainers work damn hard to make sure it works smoothly,

Did I trash the site? I just offered my opinion.

> and when there's no evidence that it's working in any way other than is intended and desired by the community.

By the community? Is this your first time on HN? The community doesn't run HN. The moderators do.

What's the point of getting so defensive?

[tomhoward]

It's not (can't be) a hard+fast rule because it depends on overall traffic at the time. But during normal traffic, it takes 3 legit/counted votes to get on the bottom-to-middle of the front page. In peak times maybe it takes 4-5. Not all votes count equally due to anti-ringvoting and other mechanisms to combat vote manipulation. But nothing gets on the front page without at least one or two legit/counted votes.

> It's not my job.

Fine, but flagging takes much less time than typing a snarky comment.

> By the community? Is this your first time on HN? The community doesn't run HN. The moderators do.

I've been here for at least 10 years, probably 11 and visited pretty much every day for at least the past 5. The moderators know that their job is to serve the interests and the will of the community. Any time they forget that, the community is quick to let them know it, which is fine and healthy. But snarky comments making unfair criticisms just drag the site down and make it less interesting and enjoyable for everyone.

> What's the point of getting so defensive?

Because this site can only continue to survive and improve if good people continually make the effort to contribute positively.

By the way, the comment you were replying to wasn't even being critical; they were being helpful, but for whatever reason you took that as a cue to sneer.

No doubt you'll do as you please, but please do so with an understanding of where you're helping and where you're doing harm.