Ironically, this was my idea...and I've been digging around in the source code recently to try and restore the old Active sort, and I realized today that it's not the number of comments that causes posts to get boosted in the current active sort, but rather how recently the last comment was made (and for that matter the old Active sort I'm working on restoring works similarly, as it happens)
Hot sort only uses the score and the post's published timestamp, actually. But I think the blasts of comments drew eyeballs and by extension, upbears, so it kinda did work indirectly I suppose.
Triggering bot spam to float mutual aid posts to the front page.
Ironically, this was my idea...and I've been digging around in the source code recently to try and restore the old Active sort, and I realized today that it's not the number of comments that causes posts to get boosted in the current active sort, but rather how recently the last comment was made (and for that matter the old Active sort I'm working on restoring works similarly, as it happens)
Seems to be working for Hot sort.
Hot sort only uses the score and the post's published timestamp, actually. But I think the blasts of comments drew eyeballs and by extension, upbears, so it kinda did work indirectly I suppose.
The inexplicable Hexbearian urge to investigate upbear-to-comment ratios