I don't know how many people really understand the algorithm that ranks posts, or perhaps more importantly, how much human intervention is a factor.

For making an irrelevant, overly paranoid comment?

You don't find it strange at all that a post with only 2 points in the past 28 minutes shot up to the front page on a weekday afternoon?

My only answer is that what's displayed doesn't necessarily match what's used for the ranking--that there may be some sort of lag. But yes, it could be possible too that somehow one can bump up their posts through other means.

The original commenter even mentioned this as an aside. If another reader didn't like it, they could've collapsed it.

I don't find it relevant. Given that the front page of HN doesn't 'directly' cater to what I want to read, it may as well just be random for all the difference it makes.