If the story is well cited, from a reputable publisher, and/or backed up by concrete facts, then I tend to trust is a little.

Not a lit, but a little. I am generally skeptical of most things here, though. As another poster in here said, I am always shocked by the ignorance on this site relating to things I have a ton of experience with. I have to assume that same ignorance extends to other areas as well.

That being said, in general, if a post makes it to the top of HN, it seems to be better informed than other places I go for news.