I'd be tempted to add TC, Mashable and the like to that as well. Though the stories are good, how many HN readers also visit those sites anyway.

Maybe a grey-list for anything linking to those sites, and then one of the top 100 users needs to vote it up in order for the article to be white-listed? Something like that? Unfortunately, that means that the most dedicated users are burdened in cleaning things up for the rest of the community, but by definition, they are already dedicated and would probably/hopefully like the site cleaned up for everybody.

I'm curious where the 'Rate my start-ups' fit into this? Do people like them? Or do you find this to not be the best venue to view them.

I posted my start-up here and the feedback I got was amazing, but that doesn't mean the community wants that stuff here.