OP here (not author).

In an unrelated context, after three years of being part of Hacker News, I still don’t fully understand how things work behind the scenes. I was genuinely surprised to see this submission make it to the front page (currently at #7). The surprise stems from the fact that I originally posted this story about four days ago, and it barely gained any traction at the time.

What’s even more puzzling is that it’s not listed under the "second chance" pool—neither on the first page nor the second, third, or fourth!

Hacker News, you certainly have a steep learning curve!