But seriously, a couple of points worth discussing:
1. Moderation feels much more automated, with default rules cutting broad robotic swaths into (or more often out of) discussion.
2. If HN is this popular, it's leaning closer and closer to social networking platform, with at least one key point: you cannot delete things, but they can.
3. Both of these facts feed into throwaway accounts. Thus, "users" are not all truly users.
But seriously, a couple of points worth discussing:
1. Moderation feels much more automated, with default rules cutting broad robotic swaths into (or more often out of) discussion.
2. If HN is this popular, it's leaning closer and closer to social networking platform, with at least one key point: you cannot delete things, but they can.
3. Both of these facts feed into throwaway accounts. Thus, "users" are not all truly users.
The numbers don't tell the whole story.