If you go on https://news.ycombinator.com/active instead of the default https://news.ycombinator.com page, the results are very different. In my experience, much more interesting content.

Here is a quick list of submissions that are currently on the top 10 of /active that are not on the default front page at all.

“Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43714203

-flagged- US Government threatens Harvard with foreign student ban - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43715022

Jellyfin as a Spotify alternative - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43711706

This 'College Protester' Isn't Real. It's an AI-Powered Undercover Bot for Cops - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43716939

Encryption Is Not a Crime - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43716138

These submissions are interesting to me and IMO are all related to tech/science (yes, even the Harvard one - fewer talented foreign students leads to less innovation). I understand the reasoning for hiding these - most are political or opinionated and lead to possibly inflammatory debate. But I trust my own best judgement for what is worth consuming and personally don't want any algorithm deciding for me (other than a simple function of f(upvotes, time_elapsed)).