My bet is that there are actual people with enough karma automatically flagging every df post without considering the content for a second.

Would be cool if @dang could check the flagging data in the articles since the massive drop in 2021 and see if there are any patterns (same people doing the flagging for every article).

I think the simplest and most likely explanation is that it’s dang himself who has a problem with Gruber.

Yea, that's the saddest option. And I'll lean towards it unless dang weighs in on the thread somehow.

Something happened in 2021 and mysteriously DF articles just fall off the front page immediately.

yep. This is HN’s biggest flaw.

They're conspicuously silent. A coward.