Relatedly, the Hacker News front page is not a meritocracy either. That's why counterbalance tools like flagging exist. Additionally, dang is implementing algorithms to identify articles that slip through: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8157698

EDIT: I misread the article's argument; there's a lot of luck on HN, but I cannot confirm there's a systemic bias toward people/topic.