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> Reddit is far worse,

I would re-characterize it as "some Reddit subreddits are far worse" - because your experience can vary widely. All the subreddits I subscribe to (hobby and interest related, not news/politics) are actually self-policed very well. I tend to think the toxic subreddits are actually in the minority even though they get all the attention.

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I also like the subreddits I subscribe to, and the volunteer mods generally do a great job. But I do think that HN mods (who are paid, I assume) have a more difficult job in content filtering, in that HN is ostensibly a general discussion forum. Even as it skews towards tech and startups, just about every topic is eligible for discussion, including political debate. In r/netsec, for example, submitted links and discussions are generally good, but the mods are also very strict about the content -- technical posts, only. I suspect the quality of discussion would change drastically if they allowed anything remotely political or even just non-technical, such as various Troy Hunt posts [0]

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16636453

Reddit is far worse in reinforcing subconscious self-moderation to adhere to the majority opinion. It's present on Hacker News too, since most people use the downvote as a "I disagree" button.

I think it depends on the subreddit. The ones I subscribe to aren't that bad with respect to downvotes.

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