As for abdicating leadership, I don't know that simply following in their footsteps is going to make better organizations either. That's just "if you can't beat em, join em" thinking... but that's a separate discussion, I suppose.
I think the moderators here do a great job, but at the end of the day it's still a service of YCombinator, and that draws a certain crowd. I prefer to gently step away from the financial side of that Venn diagram, personally, but there are also many people here who come here specifically FOR that, which I have no problem with.
I just miss the old Slashdot, probably, with high-quality tech discussions but less of an emphasis on the business side of things and the startup hustle culture.
Sounds like you want https://lobste.rs
Invites push people to exercise discretion, and not pollute the commons. Send me an email, solardev, if you want an invite.