HN is the funnel for YC. You cannot (or could not -- perhaps they have changed it, I have not looked at their application recently) apply to YC without having an HN handle. The last time I looked, every member of your team needed an HN handle to apply, even if they created it solely to apply and never posted anything.

Paul Graham has commented in the past about the fact that he read HN enough that he sometimes recognized the handles and already had an opinion about the applicants based on their handle before they applied.

Not everyone on HN is here to apply to YC. But some are. Successful YC companies can go on to be worth millions. YC itself is currently worth billions as I understand it. They have a paid moderator. This is, in fact, part of their business model.

I don't really understand why you would question my assertion given the market value of some of the YC alumni, who are, as I understand it, the only companies allowed to advertise jobs here and get to use HN in other ways to develop and promote their business. Granted, there are a great many more participants that will never apply to YC than there are YC alumni. But, yes, for some people, HN is a first step towards becoming very wealthy.

That doesn't mean every last person here feels a need to be on their best behavior. But group culture does not require every last member here to view it as a possible path to millionaire status for that expectation to influence the culture as a whole. The ones who relate to it that way are some of the most influential people here.