Perhaps such remarks are retaining position by their own merit. An experienced or high quality commentator may simply produce remarks that are better received.
I don't know what to say other than there is something going on behinds the scenes that can be seen in play in this thread. My comment is 1 minute newer than another comment in this thread. My comment currently hasn't been upvoted yet is several spots higher in the thread. I tried upvoting the other comment and mine was still higher. My account has almost twice the karma and is older than the author of the other comment. It might not be 100% or even 1% karma related, but there seems to be some sort of user reputation effect.
I upvoted your remark and it immediately dropped down the page. Evidently I am typhoid mary for unfavourable comment ranking...
Joking aside, dang specifically denies there is a comment ranking adjustment due to account karma, but not other factors (such as account age, an unseen reputation field, your IP address/choice of web browser/#{1/user.name.size}).
We are the blind to Hacker News's elephant in this.
Haha, you are right. I think there is clear proof that it is more complicated than a simple ranking involving points and time. Anything beyond that is mere speculation without clarification from the mods.
Experienced or high quality commentators are significantly more likely to create comments that other Hacker News users are willing to upvote–I'm not sure that this translates to higher quality material, though.
Yes I chose my words carefully. Notwithstanding which, this forum does enjoy a higher SNR than many others and the crowdsourced quality measure certainly plays a part.
Perhaps such remarks are retaining position by their own merit. An experienced or high quality commentator may simply produce remarks that are better received.