I wonder if the "active" link lets those articles come to the top:

https://news.ycombinator.com/active

Basically false, I think? From the first couple of pages of the top-of-all-time HN posts:

* War stories (e.g. "How I cut GTA Online loading times by 70%" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26296339 )

* Anything by ciechanow.ski (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42443229 )

* Strange bits of personal whimsy (e.g. "I sell onions on the Internet" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19728132 )

* Neat toys (e.g. 2048, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7373566 )

popularity != substance

You might have noticed that I didn't quote upvote figures, and that I omitted a bunch of possible options. I sorted by popularity and then selected ones with substance. (I presume you're not asserting that they have no substance by virtue of the fact that they were popular.)