[bravoyankee]

I think there's more to it than what the other two comments described. No doubt there is human moderation on HN (beyond users flagging submissions I mean), and maybe a list of domains and keywords to keep some stories from ever hitting front page, even when the submission gets a lot of votes in a short amount of time.

Who knows what the reasons why they'd keep a story off the front page. The moderation is emo at times, even resorting to hellbanning, slowbanning etc.

Slashdot moderation is way better. It's a better overall system over there.