Those are a lot of different theories on how the algorithm works, but I don't see how they're relevant here. We're talking about a very drastic change overnight, for numerous developers. My game is more than a year old and I don't remember seeing anything like this happen. I'm talking to affected developers who have been on Itch for 3 years or more and they're saying the same thing.
You've been on itch.io for fifteen months and published one game. I've been on itch.io for nine years and published dozens of games. Maybe don't dismiss what old hands tell you.
That said: your game is NSFW. These games have been under increased scrutiny on itch.io since this spring. Our admins say it's nothing, just basic protections against financial fraud. Other people here aren't so sure about that. Either way, the OP just confirmed what I told you on Discord: that organic traffic boosts your ranking. Also, if an affected game can bounce back soon after falling from the top, maybe that means there's no conspiracy. No secret changes of algorithm, or at least nothing permanent. Seems pretty relevant to me.
And here you are again, hunting us down no matter where we try to discuss this to strawman our arguments and ignore any evidence you don’t like. A bounce back from a YT video is definitely good news and a good sign, but it hardly means the algorithm could not have been changed. That’s quite a leap of logic, even for your standards. And you’re the only one trying to put words in our mouth about a conspiracy. I really don’t know why you’re so invested in disproving this when you’re so ill-equipped to do it. If you want to shut us up and prove how dumb we are, go talk to an admin for us.