Nice.

There are times, when things are in one of their gross phases here, that that is literally the only reason I stick around.

Nice.

Arg, I was going to engage, but just... whatever. Ok yeah, it's impossible to live in the bay, HN is gross and only valuable for money, the world sucks.

Sorry, it's not even you. It's just this running joke of dissing on HN in passing (not even a solid critique or actionable complaint) that's getting a bit old. It seems like a common sentiment, but I know this is just randomness/selection bias doing its thing.

But it's slightly frustrating when the disses are sandwiched around the substance, so there's no way to even respond to them without by definition being off-topic. So you end up getting a free, cheap shot.

Anecdotally, the mods work their butts off, so if there's something specific that you're hoping will change, they're more than willing to listen. Especially if the community starts collectively nodding in agreement. Though usually it's better to express this in a tangentially-related topic.

As for the latter, I edited it before your reply because I didn't really feel like getting into it because it's late--but I will be straight with you, if there's a "running joke" out there I certainly wasn't participating in its spread. Those critiques--and I'm happy to shoot the shit about them, my email is in my profile and you're welcome to say hey--don't belong in this thread.