Everyone is here for a different reason. Some people love startups, some love technology, some love programming. Some just like to learn new things.

If you look broadly at the topics, discussions and members I think it's somewhat obvious that there's a common denominator in all of this. Hacker news is a collection of intellectually curious people who enjoy interacting with and being challenged by likeminded souls. This is evidenced by the generally well-thought out comments, stimulating submissions and the tendency to downvote comments that aren't interesting or add to the conversation.

Hacker news is simply a place where you can meet other people that value intellectual integrity and a good conversation about an interesting subject whatever that may be.