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> HN, the not-social media, does not even have a concept of likes.

Call em what you want, but upvotes/downvotes are in the same sphere as likes. Being downvoted into oblivion has the same mental effect as no likes or dislikes on other platforms, despite not being a 1:1 algorithm (1 upvote on HN does not necessarily equate to +1 in your karma) and even if you're the only one that can see them.

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I think the person you're replying to may have been sarcastic in their comment because all those things they mentioned do exist in some form on HN.

Without those things, HN would not have the same allure as it does now. Of course upvotes/downvotes are a core part of HN; they even have a leaderboard. At least one particular "eccentric" character tends to boast about being on it as if it's a status symbol (which it may very well be, particularly if you're frequent on HN).

One advantage with HN over reddit is that buffoonery is generally not rewarded.

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