[jfoster]

I was also wondering this. I don't care too much about one instance, but it makes me wonder what other major tech news HN is failing to select for. It's relevant & a very significant story, so I think of it as a failure of HN's system/community if it doesn't rank appropriately.

[r721]

I think this is one of those cases when different people flag different threads, and as a result there is no winning front page thread (some small amount of flags has a negative effect on ranking).

[jfoster]

You're probably correct about that, but it still makes me wonder what other stories might not be making it due to similar circumstances.

[fragmede]

There are tons, and the new page is fickle to the point that good stories often don’t get placed and the moderators here invite them back to try again. Here should definitely not be your only source for news.

[gregjor]

How is it relevant as a technical story? It's more about money and ego. Mergers and acquisitions in the tech industry matter to some degree to those of us working in the field, but just because it involves Elon Musk doesn't make it headline news. I can't think of anything tech-related that will change if Musk buys Twitter, or doesn't, nor do I care how much he pays for it, or how he gets the money, or what changes he says he'll make. I don't use Twitter and I don't think of it as a tech platform.

[jfoster]

Subtract Elon Musk from the story. Would Twitter becoming a private company any other way be a front-page worthy story?

At $54.2 billion, it's even newsworthy just through the sheer size of the transaction. I'm not sure, but might it be the highest valued company to ever go from public to private?

[gregjor]

Sure, it’s news, but more business news than tech news. Twitter isn’t doing any groundbreaking tech work. Worth noting but hardly front page or needing dozens of dup posts just because it has to do with Musk.