I definitely noticed this. In February-March, the whole experience became vastly more hostile and stressful. I stopped getting replies with relevant anecdotes, corrections, or follow-up information, and started getting lots of replies attacking my character and dismissing my experiences.

I changed my HN account's password and logged out for good near the start of April. I still read it and occasionally make a one-off account like this to comment, but I don't see it as a community any more. In my mind, it is the new Reddit front page.

But hey, dang - thanks for all the hard work and good moderation while it lasted.