As for the word "hacker," there is no uncertainty about what it means among hackers themselves. And our sense of the word is spreading, not contracting. I saw a headline in the NYT a couple weeks ago that used "hack" in the good sense.
The whole appeal of this site was that you could spend 10 min reading top few stories and you'd get a pretty good idea what's going on in the YC, VC, angel, investment community. Now we'll have to spend tens of minutes weeding through all kinds of topic that just waste your time.
Why not start a new website with this new theme? Since YC i a seed stage investment firm, what exactly does "Hacker News" have to do with YC focus and mantra focus?! It is a subdomain of an investment firm so the focus and direction of n.yc really makes very little sense.
news.yc and reddit are both young, even in internet time. New members are important, and any forum must adapt to stay relevant.
Also, the choice of the word "hacker" is horrible. Yes, I know the difference between cracker and hacker but you ask anyone out there what a hacker is and they'll tell you it's someone who "hacks websites and steals credit cards." To change that perception is a next to impossible task. So, I'm sure we'll enjoy a bunch of newbies coming here and asking how to "haxor" their friend's email account.
I don't like this change one bit. Are you trying to increase the amount of traffic on this site?