It honestly seems to have gotten worse over the past several years. I don't know exactly when it started, but I've noticed a distinct dip in the quality of conversations here. I don't know if it is HN specific, but I think it is an overall societal increase in people that are stuck in information bubbles, like all of us, but when they find they are in an information bubble, they don't care. They obstinately refuse to get out of their bubble.