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by boldi 897 days ago
There is an answer to your question [0]:

"The basic algorithm divides points by a power of the time since a story was submitted. Comments in threads are ranked the same way.

Other factors affecting rank include user flags, anti-abuse software, software which demotes overheated discussions, account or site weighting, and moderator action."

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html