[insane_dreamer]

you could argue that the home page is "manipulated" (though I don't think it's as nefarious as you suggest), but you can just as easily view all posts in chronological order instead of the home page; upvoting of articles interesting to see what other users find relevant / useful but wouldn't affect.

I browse the titles and click on what seems interesting to me, regardless of the number of upvotes.

[hipadev23]

It’s more about the comments than the front page. Most HNers don’t bother clicking links and just read top of the fold comments.