HN is subject to all the trials and tribulations of any social media, it just hides some of it better through excellent moderation and consisting mainly of identical people.
That at least offers you a space to discuss something which might not be popular with most readers.
With HN you if your comment is completely against the thinking of a certain demographic ( identical people as you put it), it's downvoted heavily. No chance for constructive comments or discussion like on subreddits.