My parents probably agree with your assessment of the area, as they both grew up in rural Wisconsin (Wabeno/Lakeview), and settled here close to forty years ago.
> it means I had the article open in a tab for months with the intent of submitting to HN at some appropriate time
I have the opposite problem, as I get a far larger proportion of my reading from HN than from external sources, and I've been thinking I need to fix that lately.
I knew my tab-bookmark prooblem was really bad when I had two separate tabs for Fogus best things and stuff lists for separate years, and each tab was started when they were first submitted. :/ (of course, this example is mitigated by the fact that a list such as that is not something that can, nor should, be consumed quickly).
As evidence of my incomplete assimilation, I happened to spend last weekend up your way (north of Lake Sonoma) doing carpentry and pig hunting at a relative's cabin. Culturally, as an Eastern-educated Wisconsinite who was born in the South, I sometimes think I fit in better in your area than down here in the Bay Area proper.
the number tabs I have open in an obviously unsuccessful attempt to work around this behavior
I'm familiar with that. When I said "this is a brilliant article", it means I had the article open in a tab for months with the intent of submitting to HN at some appropriate time, and closed it only when I switched browsers (Opera to Safari).