What is the reference here? Most alternatives are terrible.
My daily dose of HN may well be my last link to something resembling the product of a sane mind. Surely you do not want to send a helpless old man into to the abyss of insanity?
The "search" field is probably where some may not expect it. And the #f6f6ef background when inverted will not go full black/off, a nuisance if anyone used an OLED display - but for this latter, OLED display owners probably use intermediate software to tweak the original interface (otherwise, colours are part of a recognizable trademark, not just a function oriented component). If I do not see other points to note, others equally will not. Do not have people guess.
Quite refreshing IMHO.
Or it is just fine like it is. I like it, even on mobile, I have it on 125% on my iPhone and I can navigate very well.
So it is good that the standard interface is very conservative and accessible.
Not everything has to look like reddit, instagram or imgur, pinterest. The minimal site interface allowed me to browse it on an older iPad once while I couldn't access sites and content of above mentioned.