I always go to New; very rarely go to Hot.

I didn't mean to say that the algorithm was purposely slanted toward frequent posters.
I just wanted to point out
a) that since Hot is the default, that would skew traffic away from other posts
b) that posts from frequent posters may exaggerate that skewing effect
c) the algorithm may then exaggerate that effect again
I suggested that traffic analysis might shed some light on this.

So far we have 2 data points from frequent posters, you and me, that ignore Hot. What does the rest of the traffic data show? (Rhetorical question, don't expect an answer from anyone;^)

Hot list is not determined by frequent posters, I'm pretty sure. I, as well, never look at Hot. I always stick in New and I tend to stay on page 1, I'm refining that plan because I am missing posts I would like to comment on. The way I see it, if people want to know where the current discussions are happening, checking Hot is not a bad idea. I tend to just look at the recent comment feed. I am pretty sure they are "analyzing traffic." I agree that it is more valuable to me-the number of comments to a post than the number of points a post has-but don't you think there is a correlation there?

if you go to page two, you will see the majority of posts were seen 23 hours and 52 minutes ago as of a minute ago.

it was like that for 50% of the first page. I refreshed it twice. When I go back now, it doesn't seem to be that way but I did not go to page 2.

"Last seen" or "Last?"

And, are you seeing all of them say literally the same thing, "23 hours and 26 minutes ago?"

the only weird thing to me is that the majority of Hot posts all say "last seen 23 hours and 26 minutes ago." what? but the concept seems like a great one

What is the goal here?
Have you analysed where users are on your site when they click to post or comment?
If they mostly start posting from the Hot List, that is, the location that the site sticks them in at startup, then they will miss lots of NEW posts that might be much more interesting than the restricted Hot List. Hot List now even more restricted than before.
How do you think things will get to HOT if most visitors are responding to HOT because of the site default?
You should also look at how things become HOT. Are all the early posts/replies from frequent posters? OK, they probably will be, but is it even more skewed than overall posting? If so, then the frequent posters and the site startup default are herding people into the HOT topics. If so, then do frequent posters post mostly from Hot list or New list?
My Gulch defaults to Hot List when I start it. I immediately switch to New because HotList is not MY HOT LIST, it's someone elses definition of Hot. However, I think that because the Gulch automatically dumps everyone on Hot list to start, those topics automatically get more views AND more posts (self fulfilling new definition of Hot?) and many New topics are ignored, and missed by many Gulchers.
I think you need to analyse the traffic. Restricting the Hot List weighting on number of comments instead of points is more indictative of Hot than just based on points, but it may be skewed by the default site navigation.

I never use HOT List at all. The New list is where the action is. Unfiltered, unfined, uncensored, no unknown algorithm defining it.

I love the last commented on feature.

As to the algorithm change, it does seem less cluttery :)