from Hacker News

Ask HN: Some posts are not in first page when I'm logged in

by riquito on 12/12/23, 7:29 AM with 4 comments

So I was looking to hacker news today when I noticed something. Of all the threads in first page, one of them (beeper mini is back - https://blog.beeper.com/p/beeper-mini-is-back ) disappeared from the main page when I logged in. I tried multiple times, and the result didn't change: as logged out the post is in front page, top 10, as logged in the post is not listed, at least not in the first few pages.

I don't remember seeing this pattern before, what would be the idea behind it?

  • by genezeta on 12/12/23, 8:35 AM

    I don't know if this is true for HN or not, but sometimes sites/CDNs cache non-logged-in pages more aggressively than logged-in ones.

    If it is of any consolation for you, right now I'm both having problems just loading HN and seeing the beeper mini link in the front page (at #6).

  • by thatxliner on 12/12/23, 7:32 AM

    Would this help?: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

    > How are stories ranked?

    > The basic algorithm divides points by a power of the time since a story was submitted. Comments in threads are ranked the same way.

    > Other factors affecting rank include user flags, anti-abuse software, software which demotes overheated discussions, account or site weighting, and moderator action.

  • by rezonant on 12/14/23, 8:22 AM

    I think we can only assume dang is in the pocket of Big Apple

  • by brudgers on 12/12/23, 5:40 PM

    My understanding is that HN serves pages from a CDN for non-logged-in views. It is a way of reducing load on the server core that serves HN.

    If that's true, then you will see a real-time front page (or a apology for not handling your request) when you are logged in and might see an older cached version of the front page if you are not logged-in.

    Of course I might be wrong and there is indeed a scandalous conspiracy of nefarious skullduggery. Good luck.