Maybe it's me, but I don't think it is that bad. Yes, you see the occasional trolls, but it's nowhere near as bad as Techcrunch or Reddit or whatever. There was a post about some guy wanting to move to SV asking for a place to crash, and he'd get the most wonderful comments and offerrs. I think HN is a nice community with a few newcomers who still have to learn that there is actually something like being nice to each other on the internet.

I'm sure things were different, more intimate and friendly a few years back, but that's more of an issue with becoming more mainstream. To me it doesn't matter, just ignore the haters and remain constructive, helpful and friendly. Well, I try to, at least!