I've gotten a reply or read a reply in some cases though it's usually done silently.
Some cases are due to a topic being overly-popular and having too many front-page submissions and the most obvious ones. Some are from flagging. A lot of the other ones seem to be purely based on what dang (and other mods?) like and don't like. Possibly there's also pressure from YC or VCs, maybe not - I have no idea there.
There's also much more up/down weighing than is captured here, some of it more minor. Overall, it's something of a myth that the front-page is mainly based on what the community is interested in - that's at most a secondary factor given the heavy curation and its effect over time.
Frankly, I would flag basically anything by Glenn Greenwald. Even putting aside my personal feelings about him, it's basically guaranteed to result in a carbon copy of the same political flame wars we've all seen 1000 times. Sometimes the issue is just that people are bored of the same discussion over and over again.
The issue is that different community members have differing views about what's on topic here and/or what breaks the site guidelines. That's inevitable and natural.
Many reasons: users flagging, moderators manually removing from front page are the most common. I guess it's pretty normal given how HN works (anyone with a certain number of points can flag + active moderation), but I just find those "rejected" threads quite interesting, especially their comments section.
Some cases are due to a topic being overly-popular and having too many front-page submissions and the most obvious ones. Some are from flagging. A lot of the other ones seem to be purely based on what dang (and other mods?) like and don't like. Possibly there's also pressure from YC or VCs, maybe not - I have no idea there.
There's also much more up/down weighing than is captured here, some of it more minor. Overall, it's something of a myth that the front-page is mainly based on what the community is interested in - that's at most a secondary factor given the heavy curation and its effect over time.