> "Meanwhile, its interface is as stale and frustrating as ever"

The UX redesign from a couple months back was definitely one of the triggers pushing me to look for alternate services.

I've been downmodded heavily elsewhere onsite for suggesting that HNers love to hate google because of hipster mentality, so that clearly can't be it...

> I've been downmodded [...] for suggesting [...] because of hipster mentality

That's probably your problem right there. You're attempting to apply a negative label ('hipster') to a group of people with whom you disagree.

If your only counter-point to someone is to 'suggest' that they only hold a particular view because it's trendy, then you're going to run into issues.

I'd say I'm a hipster, but I still like Google. I think you would have been down-voted for shitcanning hipsters (the implication is that rage-quitting Google's services it's fashionable and they're sheep) rather than you being correct that it's due to hipster mentality. In a way, shitcanning hipsters is fashionable, so we're all treading the same ground. Let's all have a beer together and chill out, just mind the beards.

Disclaimer: I don't have a beard

Whats wrong with not liking Google? I don't like them. Then again I don't like most corporations. Unfortunately Google also being an advertising company gets double my hate.

>I've been downmodded heavily elsewhere onsite for suggesting that HNers love to hate google because of hipster mentality

Because it's a stupid reason. You would get the same response if you suggested that the reason was that HNers love to hate google because they hate logos with color in them.

I think that if you examine the meta on HN dispassionately you'll see it's actually a very good reason.

It often gets couched in different language, but a great deal of HNers have a large dislike of HN because of either groupthink or mainstream-aversion.