Not just slightly skewed.

Also the HN audience is far more remote-oriented than I’ve encountered among my coworkers over the course of my career, including > 4 years working full-remote.

Anonymity probably accounts for a decent portion of the discrepancy (meaning some of your co-workers would probably be anti-WFH in person, and pro-WFH anonymously)

We’ll, I can’t prove or disprove that claim, but most of my coworkers have always been very candid with their preferences. I find it difficult to believe that there’s a large number of people who regularly say one thing while secretly believing the opposite.

If this is the case, what are the forums people with less established networks and industry experience use?

It would seem prudent to be aware of these other "HNs".

This week it's TikTok.

There is a really funny one where the guy goes back to work and hits his head on a door.

I think you'd be surprised by how many people don't really engage in outside-of-work anonymous programming forums, vs their personal contacts/friends/coworkers/ex-coworkers.

Reddit would be my guess.

The handful of Reddit programming communities I've seen are also very uninterested in returning to work. I have to wonder if the difference isn't so much "established career" vs "newbie" and is more simply self-selection, with people who are comfortable working remotely more likely to engage frequently in online communities, and those more interested in in-person work less represented.

Also anyone who has been earning a FAANG salary for 5-10 years should have enough FU money to feel a lot less pressure to conform to unreasonable employer demands.

This is my experience as well

Slightly?

If you’re suggesting HN is old and cranky…

You’d be correct.