I’ve been here since 2012. I feel there has been a shift from startup and programming discussions to more general interests. Definitely a lot more political debates here.
Now Indiehackers forum feels more like the old HN.
I thought the moderation would chase me away, especially with the reduction in technical content (after a long period of X in javascript threads overwhelming the site.) I was wrong, it's still nice, it's just more mainstream. It's the same stories that are trending on google news, just debated and discussed by smart people with grammar and civility fetishes. That's not actually bad.
Every time I think about comparing HN to Reddit, I am jarred back to reality by comments that start with "I work in [extremely specific field relevant to article]" or "I did [X project] with [Y person at center of discussion]." People show a different face depending on the group culture, and HN just draws a different humor out of people than Reddit does. The same person could be very serious on HN, and then turn around and write looney jokes on Reddit.
There are certain areas of Reddit that are informative and moderated to maintain a high degree of quality. I think they often deal with a shared hobby, profession, or pursuit.
unalone on Nov 6, 2009 in "Ask HN: Is it just me, or are HN comments becoming..."
I'm at a year and a half. Hacker News is turning into Reddit. It's following the exact same path, albeit thankfully slower, and the causes behind that path—influx of users, need for attention, karma lust—aren't causes that Paul is looking to fix.
Reddit's not the worst thing in the world, but make no mistake, we're headed there.
The earliest linked:
_csoo on Apr 17, 2007 - Since when is Startup News synonymous with reddit?
That Guideline with the links suggests "Please don't post comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills."