Ask HN: What do you think about internet echo chambers?

This makes me sound like a knee-jerk contrarian, but I think the majority opinion is wrong. Echo chambers are good! When you have too wide a chasm between points of view, you spend all your time bickering about surface issues. But if you speak to people who already agree with you on first principles, you can have a deeper discussion.

For example, a doctor and homeopath are less likely to have a productive discussion about health issues, than two doctors, or two homeopaths. A doctor and homeopath are just going to argue over whose profession is the worthless one.

    is HN an internet echo chamber

Sure, moreso than most other sites, in that people on HN are better educated (and therefore more liberal) than the average social network. But I'd prefer it if the opinions were still less diverse.

    and how do you tell?

Since I seldom see users threaten each other with physical violence here, I assume it's more of an echo chamber than most other websites.