[tptacek]

Two big reasons people miss:

(a) HN is the front-end and back-end of a bunch of YC business processes.

(b) The voting ring and antispam features rely on obscurity; they are game-able.

The code for older versions of HN is available, but you'd be better off with the code for lobste.rs.

[zmitri]

Not only that, there's a variety of mechanisms built in to boost/identify YC users to other YCers to provide mechanisms of boosting their submitted stories. HN in itself is like a giant voter ring in that way.

[pg]

No there aren't. YC founders' userids show up in orange to one another, and there is a page where they can see one anothers' submissions. There are no mechanisms to "boost" stories submitted by YC founders, nor does the voting ring detector discriminate.

[zmitri]

To me that sounds like a mechanism to help boost. Not automatically, but definitely an advantage.

[wglb]

Do you have specific evidence of that?

[codewright]

It's pretty well known. Don't know that I'd use the term voter ring though.

It's just that if you're in a YC batch or an alum you get posts, especially job posts, boosted.

I wouldn't pay much mind to this talk of mechanisms and gaming systems, sounds like post-hoc reasoning by outsiders.

[tptacek]

There is more than that going on.

[codewright]

Not that I'm surprised, but I have to imagine it would take the form of the quasi-benign backslapping I saw on Reddit.

[zmitri]

Think about this: YC is a business. YC likes hackers -- hell, YC are hackers. Gaming systems is what hacking is about. Hacker News provides a platform to let their companies get attention. Being front page on HN brings you traffic and tech attention. The HN that you read is the same one potential hires, investors and journalists read.

[Terretta]

Pre-chasm traffic.

[tptacek]

It's true, or was recently.

[ceol]

The voting-ring/anti-spam features don't have to be included in the repository. It might be a big hassle to detangle them from the rest of the codebase, though.

[ntaylor]

This is what reddit does

[brudgers]

The third big reason:

(c) The standard complaints don't matter because they don't impact growth.

There's a message in that.

It is, "Ship."

[subsystem]

I would say the look and name of HN do impact growth in certain "demographics". That might even be the idea.

[brudgers]

In that vein, discouraging memes, insider jokes, meanness, snark, and flamewars, also impact growth.

[subsystem]

Of course, but it can also be engaging. It all depends on what kind of growth you want. For the size of the reader base, it's not very common to see people "on the team" comment something here on HN once the discussion turns opinionated.

[brudgers]

It can be engaging when it is engaging. However, the median meme, etc. of the set of all internet discussions is not.