I came back looking for a TechCrunch story about SV undermining democracy [0], and was surprised to find it had already dropped off the front page.

Found it on page 2, but it's ranking was lower (44) than articles that it should seemingly outrank—based on comments (211), points (247) and time posted (12 hours ago). See screenshot [1].

For instance, at 38 is an older article with only 3 comments and 29 points.

At 41 was a significantly older article with only 38 comments and 125 points.

So, this article is ranking lower than even a much older article with roughly half the votes and ~5.5x fewer comments.

Is there some other "bonus" or penalty for articles (beyond those that are overtly problematic per HN guidelines)?

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49232221

[1] https://imgur.com/a/t4Cn2Fi