It can be pretty random what gets traction on HN. That's why we explicitly allow a few reposts (see https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html) and why we do things like the second-chance pool (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11662380). Eventually we want to add some kind of karma sharing so earlier submitters don't get left out when a later submission takes off. In the meantime, though, it evens out in the long run, so please keep posting good stories!