Ask HN: What's up with the HN experience?

Ok, so I'll admit I'm sorta new here, but I have to ask: why does the "Unknown or expired link" message appear so much? Why isn't there a notification that there are new replies to my comments?

With the population of HN being heavily biased toward people with the skillset to make HN better, why is the experience the way it is?

I don't need crazy chrome (digg) or heavily customizable themes (reddit) -- just a "next page" link that works after several minutes... I can't be the only one, right? Or is this a historical thing that's kept around for nostalgia?

I hope I'm not ranting too much. I ask because I care :) I'd take HN over /r/programming any day, even in its current state.