But isn't HN just an aggregator too? Just lacking the subsections? When you get down to it, how much specialization do you want? Surely a dedicated objective C site would suit me better, or a dedicated Python site. This generalized site called HN is no good at all. I find, unsurprisingly, that reddit isn't something that is any one thing. There is some good, some bad (well, lots) and some excellent stuff (not enough though). For the record, HN provides lots of what I want, and heaps of what I don't, but with a signal to noise magnitudes higher than reddits.

The thing about HN is that you can verify a lot of users on here by going to their profile and seeing who they are (for the most part), a feature Reddit does not have.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6938377

On some subreddits (including gamedev) your flair can say something personally identifying about you, like your Twitter handle. It's optional, but it's optional here too.

Sure, other options are out there, but why should I? I like Reddit. I was challenging the statement that it's impossible to derive value from Reddit. I do.