It's definitely unknown outside of a subset of developers and startup types. Probably the most obscure site I use.
I would say that’s it’s well known among developers who follow the tech news, who (sadly) are a minority among all developers.
I have only ever interacted with 1 person IRL who used HN, which lead to my using it. Other than that, no-one I know that works within tech uses it, so anecdotally I would say, HN is a relatively unknown community. I wouldn't say exclusive, as anyone can join.
Anecdotally, almost everyone I know knows about Reddit; almost none of them know Hacker News (outside of a few in the startup industry).
Yeah same here basically. Makes sense, since Reddit has a much broader scope than HN has.
The only time I've ever come across a reference to hackernews outside of hackernews was in a single YouTube video, and it was only mentioned in passing.
I'd classify that as obscure.
It’s mostly unknown in Netherlands, so you can find highly skilled dutch hackers here. Most IT folks hang in Tweakers and such
I don't classify myself as a highly skilled hacker, but I just like this site and the discussions on this board.