https://www.journalduhacker.net/ - French Hacker News
https://write.narwhal.space/ - Writing
https://g33kz.de/ - German Hacker News
https://paperkast.com/ - Academic Papers
https://bitmia.com/ - Finance/Investing
All of the above are based on https://lobste.rs/, which is pretty much like HN with a few extra features and less Off-Topic
Also, there are independent StackExchange-like sites for physics and bioinformatics
I think it would be more useful to share sites that have great communities, even if they use different software.
For example, for investing, the Boggleheads forum is excellent: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/index.php
For example, all moderator action is public. You have to give a reason to downvote comments or flag stories, and other mods as well as the user in question can see those in the case of comments, everybody can see them in the case of stories. If a user is banned, the reason for the ban will always remain visible. It has a tagging system for stories, every user can customize what tags they want to see. People can apply for "hats", which means being officially authorized to speak for a website, a project, an organization or company.
Pretty awsome, if you ask me.
The goal is to be a high-signal community to share and discuss research, design, and code of blockchain and cryptocurrency protocols.
It's invite-only (to keep the quality of links and discussion high), but we're just getting started, so definitely apply for an invite if this is a space you're interested in.