Why are threads showing misconduct of YC members removed from frontpage?

Question

I had seen it a bit before but now it is super obvious with https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34979981570 Points and 5 hours ago posted at the moment. EVERY thread on the frontpage is older and/or has fewer points (often both). Why did this fall from rank 2 of the frontpage within seconds to the second page (rank > 30)?

gus_massa · Accepted Answer

I see now in the #30 position in the front page.The usual reply by the mods is that it was flagged by users. If you send an email to them, they may remove the flags using a magic button. It happened many times before https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

tikkun · Answer

It's much more likely that it was flagged by HN users, over any kind of moderator intervention. When users flag stories (users with high enough karma scores can flag stories) they'll drop.

sethammons · Answer

I've seen dang comment that there are some flame retardants in place to cool off higher interest posts when comments surge.

elmerfud · Answer

Rules for me and rules for thee.