On the contrary in the case of HN it fits most criteria perfectly
1. Elevation of someone to diety status (Graham, <startup founder of the week>)
2. Shunning outsiders (mocking redditors, another cult)
3. Enforced group think through shame rituals ("As a..." response posts, downvoting).
4. Belief that the HN system is superior to all other systems
HN, like nearly ALL modern startups, would qualify as cults. Remove the downvoting enforced groupthink and maybe I'd be inclined to agree with you. Until then, I refuse to. Upvote/downvote culture enforces the exact behavior required to punish and shame people with differing opinions into conforming. It's a sinister assault on human psychology and all sites doing this (HN included) should feel deeply ashamed. For being an alleged "libertarian/liberal" oasis in the middle of a barren internet desert, this place is far more like Jonestown than, for example, the philosophy department of a top 10 university despite seemingly every poster here believing truly they have 9e40 IQ and are one self help book away from unlocking literal gigabrain magic.