Well I've got my 2 standard suggestions: ditch the (c)hains, go public domain, and always provide a "View source" link on every page.
Then, more specific to your site, I would go to someplace with a lot of people, a big coffee shop or conference for example, in person, and get at least 30 people to manually pick their top 2-3 favorites from that homepage. Then that will provide a huge initial boost and help you get over the hump of a social site without any people. You gotta "do things that don't scale", at this point, IMO. Turn the phone off, shut the computer screen, and meet people face to face to get it kickstarted.
Nothing will improve your homepage more than if each story on the front page had a minimum of 10 upvotes from real human beings.
Then, more specific to your site, I would go to someplace with a lot of people, a big coffee shop or conference for example, in person, and get at least 30 people to manually pick their top 2-3 favorites from that homepage. Then that will provide a huge initial boost and help you get over the hump of a social site without any people. You gotta "do things that don't scale", at this point, IMO. Turn the phone off, shut the computer screen, and meet people face to face to get it kickstarted.
Nothing will improve your homepage more than if each story on the front page had a minimum of 10 upvotes from real human beings.