The perception is common but inaccurate. HN has always had plenty of general-interest articles.

HN's mandate is "anything that gratifies intellectual curiosity". As people's curiosities differ, so do their opinions about what's on topic. When you run into a streak of articles you don't like—and randomness guarantees such streaks—it starts to feel like HN has gone off the rails. The underlying system is more stable than that makes it seem.

Fortunately, if you don't like one article, there are others. For example, you can always look at what you missed yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/front?day=2018-11-21.