HN community, culture and politics (and also its moderation) are very Silicon Valley / US centric. This comes through especially on non-technical (but relevant) topics, like regulation. But also topics like company culture are extremely US-centric.

Localized topics (both in terms of content and culture) is probably the only reason why an HN-like site would be viable.

From my perspective it's definitely desirable, and just the current frontpage of technews.london confirms that there is a lot of stuff that will never make it to SV-centric HN.

I'd love to have a local HN to see what's going on in my country's scene.

I think HN clones like this should always be encouraged.

And that is only possible b/c it's a marketing expense which will generate its return by attracting lucrative start-ups to YC.

So it's done for the community after all!