[hermanmerman]

There are 25 links on /new, the oldest being 27 min ago. So your post has 27 minutes to gather the attention of enough people (7-8 upvotes is OK) to actually surface to the frontpage. This is not a lot fo time, especially for IPython Notebooks which need time to be read/appreciated. Maybe reddit is the community you need :/

[s9w]

I can agree only partially. That's basically similar to the problem that imageposts are vastly more popular than anything else on reddit etc. But HN does have a huge focus on quality posts and takes big measures to ensure that. Also the notebooks were with many colorful pictures (and even videos!), and that even applies only to the two least relevant submissions.

[hermanmerman]

you're right, but HN is so focused that there is only one /new page, so the competition is brutal.

[brock_r]

>> especially for IPython Notebooks which need time to be read/appreciated.

I agree wholeheartedly. You need to capture people's attention in 5 seconds or so.

That means visuals, soundbites, summaries, "what's-in-it-for-me", etc. You are in the media business whether you want to be or not.

Not that many people like wading thru two pages of math just to see if they might find something interesting.