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Ask HN: How often do you vote on posts in the “new” tab?

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Re: Ask HN: How often do you vote on posts in the “new” tab?

#11

Post by ColinWright »

thenewnewguy wrote: post #5

To answer the question, I occasionally browse new and upvote posts. Probably around 30%-40% of my upvotes are from new. However, my understanding was that newer posts got mixed in to the front page, so posts worthy of upvotes have a chance to receive them. Example: this very post, as of time of me writing this, has only 10 upvotes and was on the front page for me, in between two posts with hundreds of upvotes.

> this very post ... has only 10 upvotes and was on the front page for me, in between two posts with hundreds of upvotes.

That's common, as the "score" for a post is (very roughly) points divided by time. So a newer post with fewer points can still have the same "score" as an older post with many more points, giving the effect you've seen without the cause you posit.

So what you say about the mixing may be true, but is not evidenced by the example you've quoted.

Re: Ask HN: How often do you vote on posts in the “new” tab?

#12

Post by ColinWright »

alexmint wrote: post #8
zeristor wrote: post #4

A couple of times a day I scroll down looking for the interesting things that might be lost, upvoting generously. Perhaps you could double down and do a HN Poll post to find out?

Can you tell me how to create an HN Poll? Or if someone is familiar with creating an HN poll, would you please create it and share the link here?

You need a minimum amount of karma to create a poll. If you search you can probably find an estimate of the required level, I don't know it offhand. Then you can search for how to create a poll (probably the same search will give you both answers).

Edit: Here's a start:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3380115

Edit: I don't know why you were downvoted, so I upvoted to compensate. It's a reasonable question, although it is answered by doing a quick search.

Re: Ask HN: How often do you vote on posts in the “new” tab?

#16

Post by thenewnewguy »

ColinWright wrote: post #11
thenewnewguy wrote: post #5

To answer the question, I occasionally browse new and upvote posts. Probably around 30%-40% of my upvotes are from new. However, my understanding was that newer posts got mixed in to the front page, so posts worthy of upvotes have a chance to receive them. Example: this very post, as of time of me writing this, has only 10 upvotes and was on the front page for me, in between two posts with hundreds of upvotes.

> this very post ... has only 10 upvotes and was on the front page for me, in between two posts with hundreds of upvotes. That's common, as the "score" for a post is (very roughly) points divided by time. So a newer post with fewer points can still have the same "score" as an older post with many more points, giving the effect you've seen without the cause you posit. So what you say about the mixing may be true, but…

If that's the case, then what you gave is the reason, is it not? A post made 1 minute ago will have 100x the score a post made 100 minutes ago, and this boost in score at a young age will cause a young post with only 1 or 2 upvotes to hit the first few pages for a short time, giving it a chance to get more upvotes if it's a good post.

Re: Ask HN: How often do you vote on posts in the “new” tab?

#17

Post by ColinWright »

thenewnewguy wrote: post #16
ColinWright wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this very post ... has only 10 upvotes and was on the front page for me, in between two posts with hundreds of upvotes. That's common, as the "score" for a post is (very roughly) points divided by time. So a newer post with fewer points can still have the same "score" as an older post with many more points, giving the effect you've seen without the cause you posit. So what you say about the mixing may be true, but…

If that's the case, then what you gave is the reason, is it not? A post made 1 minute ago will have 100x the score a post made 100 minutes ago, and this boost in score at a young age will cause a young post with only 1 or 2 upvotes to hit the first few pages for a short time, giving it a chance to get more upvotes if it's a good post.

No, because there are other factors mixed in, such as requiring a minimum number of upvotes by contributors not recognised as being in a voting ring, and beating the "gravity" factor. There are also penalties applied for certain types of posts and sources, boosts applied for certain types of posts, and penalties for some conditions. For example, when a post hits 40 posts, if the number of comments exceeds the number of points, a "probable flame war" penalty is applied.

So it's not the case that posts from the new page "get mixed in" to the Front Page, they get there on merit based on getting enough votes in a short enough time. To say they get "mixed in" implies that they are simply plucked from the "Newest" page and put on the Front Page regardless of votes. And that's not the case.

Usually.

Re: Ask HN: How often do you vote on posts in the “new” tab?

#18

Post by ColinWright »

Rounin wrote: post #14

You can vote on things? Thanks for letting us know.

Perhaps you are unaware, but your comment comes across as having a sarcastic tone, which is possibly misplaced. As such, people are likely to downvote you, which will delay your acquisition of karma, and hence your ability to do all sorts of things on the site.

Re: Ask HN: How often do you vote on posts in the “new” tab?

#19

Post by simon_acca »

Somewhat off topic, but I would welcome having a very small section of 2-3 randomly selected posts from “new” show up on top of the regular home page.

That way “doing my part” in scanning over the enormous volume of new posts becomes frictionless.

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