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by YeGoblynQueenne 1092 days ago
Right now this article is at no. 10 on the front page, while no. 11 is "Book of Proof (2018)".

This is the third time I notice such a coincidence on HN. Is this something that HN does on purpose? Like, does the site match posts with similar titles on the front page to encourage discussion in both? Note that (at the time of writing) this article has 91 points and the other one 45, so the two articles are not ordered by upvote count.

Also, I need a catchy name for this phenomenon (just 'cause I want to name the folder where I keep screenshots documenting it, like). Suggestions?
3 comments
Jun8 1092 days ago
Over the years I’ve noticed it too, the time lag between similar posts ranging from a few hours to a day or so. My simple explanation is that a person reading the original post either remembers a related nugget of Internet that they think people would also find interesting or else they find it while googling, inspired by the initial post.
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waldarbeiter 1092 days ago
I was not aware of the other post when posting this. I stumbled upon this PDF coincidentally and thought it would be valuable for HN.
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Jtsummers 1092 days ago
The Book of Proof post was made 2 hours after this one, you wouldn't have been aware of it. It happens a lot. See a topic, and people post related things because it jogs a memory, they found it while digging deeper, or as a form of indirect response.
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constantcrying 1092 days ago
>Is this something that HN does on purpose?

No, the HN algorithm is extremely simple and does not consider syntactic similarities of the titles.

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Solvency 1092 days ago
I've noticed similar themed posts appearing in clusters constantly on HN. It's way too commonplace to be coincidental.
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constantcrying 1092 days ago
No it is coincidental. Look at the algorithm yourself.
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Solvency 1092 days ago
It doesn't mean it's the algorithm, it means users could be tactically posting to ride a wave of similar interest. That's all.
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constantcrying 1092 days ago
Yes, you are right. Potentially the effect is partly due to that after seeing the first post a user stumbles over something related and decides to post that as well.
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