Yeah, trending topics are sometimes downranked to prevent front page spam. This is apparently a known thing HN does.

I think it is organic - specifically feels more like fatigue to me. Couple of people are still interested in the topic, but many are over it so it gets replaced by other trending things fast

I noticed some of the highly voted posts are not making it to the front page of HN.

36412619 is by a new user. I figured that may have had something to do with it.

Update / correction: There is a penalty on Reddit topics: <https://www.hackerneue.com/item?id=36435312>

================================================================================

Previously:

HN's policy is that there is less official (mod-based) moderation where a YC connection exists, a point dang reiterated specifically concerning Reddit within the past week: <https://www.hackerneue.com/item?id=36366909>

There have been a tremendous number of Reddit submissions in the past month (621 as I write this), as compared with 2,629 in the past year, which puts the preceding 11 months at a mean of 182 Reddit submissions.

Keep in mind that front page space is highly limited on HN. There are 30 slots per day (though there's some intra-day movement on and off those), or 10,950 front page stories per year.

I've been in the process of gathering and running some statistics and analysis of historic Reddit front-page activity, and even as of a few days ago, pro-rated for the year (and ignoring the fact that the floodgates really only opened just over three weeks ago: <https://www.hackerneue.com/item?id=36141083>), 2023 is trending to exceed the high-water mark for front-page Reddit mentions set in 2012, of 46.[1]

(It takes about a half hour for me to update stats, I'll reply with current numbers when I have them.)

Mostly, I suspect it's a matter of the front page being hard to land, probably combined with fatigue on the topic. And I'm not without a horse in this race as I've just submitted an item of my own on the subject.

Update: Here's the mentions-by-years breakdown, as of 2023-6-21:

  2007 41
  2008 31
  2009 15
  2010 44
  2011 41
  2012 46
  2013 28
  2014 27
  2015 27
  2016 19
  2017 15
  2018 15
  2019 12
  2020 24
  2021 12
  2022 13
  2023 29

Given that we're 47% of the way through 2023, the pro-rated tally for the year would be about 62 FP stories, well above not only the recent trend (teens to twenties) but 134% of the all-time peak in 2012.

________________________________

Notes:

1. Earlier analysis from 8 days ago, here: <https://www.hackerneue.com/item?id=36321773>

Of course they aren ... muffle muffle ... silence