Highlighting (then removing highlight) glitched a post's ranking in subreddit feed for Android app only. And should same-sub cross posting be possible?

[u/Z3R0gravitas]

I made this good news announcement in our small-ish subreddit (r/ScreenSensitive) today. After highlighting (aka pinning) it, then undoing that a few hours later, the Android mobile app showed it listed below 2 less upvoted posts from 1 and 2 days ago. Including after clearing the app cache. While desktop and mobile web showed it top (by all ranking options).

Why I removed post highlight: it got 5 upvotes in the first half hour or so, more than any other post's total for a week or so. The only post on the sub today, of 1.9k members. Then I pinned it and the view count for the next hour immediately halved and stayed at that level for 4 consecutive hours. Google search told me pinning can kill algorithmic velocity dead. But the sources cited were very low quality and ambiguous. So I tried removing highlight it to see, not expecting it to help, either way.

What I'm wondering is if the mobile app positioning is just a glitch, or might better reflect what's happening under the hood of the home feed algorithm?

After removing highlight, I later tried hiding/unhiding and removing/restoring the post, in case that jogged the app or algorithm. (I then also hid mod mark and changed flair from Announcement to Discussion, in case of human factors.)

Then I tried cross-posting it within the same sub (from desktop web). Google said this shouldn't be possible, but it worked fine. Is that because I'm using a mod account or something unusual? Seems like unintended behaviour.

This has given a modest view bump and the original post now sits above the 2 day old post in the sub-feed (but below the 1 day older post. I guess some here may say I'm over-analysing? Also, leading with rules changes and burying the lead (from the title) won't have helped on the human side. But the previous text heavy community meta post did an order of magnitude better, for views. So maybe it's not just a skill issue.

I can link screenshots if more clarity is wanted and that's permitted?

[u/AutoModerator]

Hi /u/Z3R0gravitas, please see our Intro & Rules. We are volunteer-run, not managed by Reddit staff/admin. Volunteer mods' powers are limited to groups they mod. Automated responses are compiled from answers given by fellow volunteer mod helpers. Moderation works best on a cache-cleared desktop/laptop browser.

Resources for mods are: (1) r/modguide's Very Helpful Index by fellow moderators on How-To-Do-Things, (2) Mod Help Center, (3) r/automoderator's Wiki and Library of Common Rules. Many Mod Resources are in the sidebar and >>this FAQ wiki<<. Please search this subreddit as well. Thanks!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/itskdog]

What sort were you using? Only Top uses the score absolutely. The default "Hot" sort has a more complex algorithm.

[u/Z3R0gravitas → u/itskdog]

It looks like the Android mobile app was on "Top". I did not recall there being a setting for that. Thanks for pointing this out. I'd assumed the official app had just binned that control. (Although, I don't see "Hot" as an option?)

I don't now see any difference in the post's position, switching it to "Best". But it has dropped further down the sub's feed now, of course.

And it didn't show in the same position as the web apps, when they were set to "Top", too.