You'd prefer a reload of the page every time you upvote? Even a mostly static site like HN needs some JS to make the experience drastically better.

I do believe JS can make sites better. I just think that it's WAY overly used and abused, and actually makes most sites less functional. Think of it like salt: a little bit and it enhances your food. But if you keep piling it on, it doesn't keep improving things.

The keyword being some. If HN started requiring JS for basic browsing (like a lot of other aggregators out there already do), I'd get the hell out.

HN's reasonable and minor js is an exception. And you only need it if you want to participate in the voting system. Reading and commenting works without.

The vast majority of js does not seem to provide me with any benefit.

One could just make the arrows links that load in a hidden iframe and add CSS styling that hides the image when it's been clicked. It's not strictly correct (side effect for GET requests), but that's what happens as a fallback anyhow (you get links with JS disabled, you just have to open them in a new tab to avoid the reload).