I know that the ratio of following to followers is part of it. The fewer people you follow, the higher you are for the same number of followers. For some reason.
I didn't see that in the source code. I did a little write up about what's in there btw. https://mooeena.neocities.org/specialsauce
That kind of confuses me too. It doesn't help that it's also the default option when you click the Websites tab. (At least for me, anyway...) And after reading the criteria for getting on a higher list, I'm perfectly fine with continuing not to care for it.
following! i won't show up on the follow list as an 18+ flagged site on neocities, but i'll still be following all the same