This is an anomaly that your explanation doesn't apply to though. Notice that it has 50 points and is half an hour old. I count 12 items on the front page curr

This is an anomaly that your explanation doesn't apply to though. Notice that it has 50 points and is half an hour old. I count 12 items on the front page currently that have 50 or fewer points and are 1 or more hours old and yet remain there. These items are generally quality content (such as the tinfoil security post -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8086834 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8086834 -- which sits at 37 points / 3 hours). Your explanation of "5 votes within the first 30 minutes" completely disregards that this has as many votes as many other items on the front page, but in a fraction of the time period.