Look at some of the threads where people have posted "Woe is me, I need a job and my wife is sick and my dog is dying and my car just fell over" and look at the generous offers of help and posts of support those get. Look at the "Hey, I'm coming to SV and want to visit some people, who wants to get together?" posts and notice how many people chime in to say "Hey, come see us." Look at the threads about depression and related topics, and notice the people saying things like "If you need somebody to talk to, call me anytime."
I think HN actually has (mostly) a very positive vibe, and I'm glad that jokes and Internet memes and (most) "me too" posts are downvoted. There's a place for that stuff... that place just happens to not be HN.
Now I'm not saying HN is perfect, and I won't even argue that the level of discourse hasn't suffered a bit the last few years. But, by and large, this is one of the most civil and productive forums I'm part of, or ever have been part of.
Eh, I wouldn't think about the karma thing to much. I have 3001 karma as of this posting, and I still find myself surprised at which of my comments are upvoted, downvoted and/or ignored. I just say what I'm honestly feeling, submit stuff I find interesting, and figure the rest will sort itself out.
On top of that, HN seems like a get-shit-done site. If you aren't contributing, get out of the way. If you don't have something nice - no scratch that - *useful to say, then don't say anything at all. And this is not to be mistaken with, no laughing allowed, no fun, and no hearts. It is more of an efficiency thing.
For me, I'm not here or on any other message board to "get shit done"... if I am getting shit done then I'm not surfing the Internet, by definition. I come to sites like this to learn stuff, find cool links, run across things I had never heard of or thought of before, and hopefully have interesting conversations. I really detest the constant pressure of having to self-censor and edit what I say with a view to making sure it's "useful"... whatever the definition of useful is.
It's funny that after a long hiatus I do a drive by here and this thread is on the front page.
Also the point thing sucks, frankly. Whether you want to or not, you start keeping track of your points, wondering what you could do to get more, feeling jealous of others who have way more than you, etc. Human nature I suppose. It also sucks to call it some bullshit euphemistic name like "karma", which obscures what it really is, which is a social ranking system.
I would say that 4chan and YouTube comments are at one extreme, and Hacker News sits squarely at the opposite extreme. Neither appeal.
Hmm, I never had that impression.
It's the No Me Too Posts Policy taken to the extreme and it alienates people from one another
That's what keeps this from degrading like Reddit.
Personally, I feel connected to others on HN (and not alienated) via the serious intellectual discussion I find on here. That is the fabric of this community.