Here is a crazy idea, kinda like how subreddits on reddit work. Use the separate Launch HN page[0], with just the launch threads (one per company). Put the one that is currently at the top on the main home page (or maybe two, or maybe treat it like a stack and pop the top on a regular basis skipping ones that have already appeared).
That way people who are interested in launches (like me) can check out the launch page, but everyone else will still see the most popular launches. Then you don't have to guess which ones will be popular.
Maybe once a week have an automatic summary thread for all the ones that didn't make the home page similar to what you describe above, with one per comment.
As for you being the editing bottleneck, why not teach the partners how to do the editing so they can be the first step, and then maybe you just do a final pass after the partners have hopefully mostly gotten it good?
> Use the separate Launch HN page
I’ve never even seen that page until you posted it, and it doesn’t show up in the top or bottom nav bars. If this was linked up top like Show and Ask, then I’d look at it way more regularly.
Add it to the top bar, have a random one display (not posted, but pinned/displayed) at the top of the front page for each load. Considering it’s HNs core purpose I don’t think anyone would complain about having a sticky random Launch HN at the top during launch season?
https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented
The launches page is in this section:
https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented#hacker...