> I think the best way to put it is, users with the same user picked settings should see the same things, in the same order. That's a given on HackerNews, as there's only one frontpage.
Are you sure? The algorithm isn't public, but putting a tiny fraction of "nearly ready for the frontpage" posts on the front page for randomly selected users would be a good way to get more votes on them without subjecting everyone to /new
That's a good point. As I pointed out, I'm ok with global state (total votes, how recent is a post, etc). Randomness could be thought as a kind of global state, even if it's not reproducible. As long as it's truly random, and not something where user A is more likely to see it than user B for any reason, then I'm fine with it.
Are you sure? The algorithm isn't public, but putting a tiny fraction of "nearly ready for the frontpage" posts on the front page for randomly selected users would be a good way to get more votes on them without subjecting everyone to /new