Admittedly I haven't read the code to see how the algorithm weights things, but on HN a high number of comments seems to downrank stories if anything. This site is so low-traffic in comparison that IMO it would be really nice for a new comment to bump a submission to maybe the bottom of the front page or top of the second, sort of like an oldschool web forum. The way it is now I feel like commenting on anything beyond the first couple of pages will never be seen.
Since the site is open source you can see the front page ranking algorithm here: https://github.com/jgrahamc/twostopbits/blob/master/apps/new...
Any any changes in the algorithm I would suspect as temporary. Measures only to spur discussion and avoid “tumbleweed” posts that briefly appear on the front page and then sink back into obscurity. If the community ever attracted a “cult of rust” like you see in HN that post and upvotes anything Rust. We would have a problem. Such a faction with its enthusiasm would be able to squeeze out anything else. Amiga. Nintendo. Atari. As examples.
Yeah, exactly this. Lazy "bump" comments could and should be moderated away. It would be fine for comments-by-submission-author to not bump a submission in this way.
At this point given the dearth of comments, it feels like any comment should almost reset the decay function to that of a new story.with the current scoring if there was a comment on something on off the front page you’d never know it. But if a story popped back to the top with a comment on it it might be of value to read and spur on more participation