> Do certain types of content set off the ring-voting detection more frequently?
Sure—people posting their startups, for example, set off the ring detector more frequently than the typical news article. Friends voting for friends' blog posts, too. But is that a bias of the algorithm? That strikes me as a stretch.
Interesting. How do you guard against coincidental rings?
(i.e. a subgroup of people who all love, say, Lisp, and therefore always vote up Lisp stories. They're not an organised group - but they do tend to vote in concert.)
I used to worry about that too, but it turns out not to be a big problem in practice. (I realize that's not a satisfying explanation, but this is one area where we can't give out details without enabling people to game the site. Having put a ton of effort into HN's anti-voting-ring measures, I dread the thought of having to climb all the way down the mountain and push that boulder up again.)
Sure—people posting their startups, for example, set off the ring detector more frequently than the typical news article. Friends voting for friends' blog posts, too. But is that a bias of the algorithm? That strikes me as a stretch.