HN community VS 4chan community ? Really ? What if we'd stop pretending for just 1 sec, and just admit that many, many people are just the same here and there ? Where does this lead ? As many here pretend to play the game, and play hardly, because they're aware of the rules, at least a small part of them, deep in their brain, also hate it. The feeling that most of time, crazy VC and tech race just lead nowhere is real. The worm is in the fruit already, and really, I'm pleased to record so.
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." - Oscar Wilde
Some of this doesn't come from HN itself but from the overall tech culture. But I think a big part of the story is that the site saw a massive expansion in users, thus becoming more generic and "public", meaning people have to be a bit more reflexive about what they say on here. When your audience is a trusted community of people with a shared understanding of the rights and protections that discussion participants grant to one another, you can cut through the bullshit a lot easier.