If any of what you claim is true, I am an idiot and you are a genius.
>when there is no way to become a moderator, people seek status and power elsewhere
This is such an odd way to look at the world, I would need quite a bit more explanation. Not everyone is ambitious and competitive.
>HN survives because of similar aspiration to be seen as that smart person in front of a VC audience
Many of us (you included) participate here without any connection to our 'real' identities.
>Facebook and Twitter are waning not because of trolls, but because they have signaled a nannying supervisory role
I haven't seen this study, and my own anecdotal evidence says the novelty is wearing off.