zlacker

>>ColinW+(OP)
Is this submission being flagged by users, or has it tripped some sort of scoring penalty?

http://hnrankings.info/7609667/

Dropping suddenly from 3rd to 20th on the front page suggests some sort of penalty being applied, but is it community driven, or automated? Even with the new openness about the actions of the moderators on HN I still find some things deeply confusing.

Added in edit: This does bring home just how important upvotes are. I've seen how disproportional the effect is of downvotes on an item's ranking - one downvotes out-weights many upvotes. If you like something, upvote it, or see it sink without trace.

>>ColinW+U7
I put a moderate moderator flag on it so that it would be lower, but still on the front page. My reasoning: Space X is cool and interesting, but it isn't a major story every time they do a launch.

Edit: We took the penalty off several hours ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7611240

>>dang+Al
I think that's over-moderation. There's obviously interest and reasonable minds can disagree on the importance. This is not "just another Space X launch". 1) it's going to the space station and 2) it includes the fascinating concept of the rocket landing back on earth.

>>pbreit+Lu
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7611240