Having different sites dedicated to different kinds of topics helps me partition my time and energy. Otherwise it would all go to the most emotionally salient content. I get that your current choice is to go all-in on the current political crisis in the U.S., but that isn't desirable or healthy for everybody. There are plenty of sites that can help you with that, and people who aren't well-served by that also need places to go. I use HN for professionally relevant content and tech-related diversions. I'll check in on politics elsewhere.

I don't think online engagement correlates much with political effectiveness, btw. Not that I think I'm more politically effective than the average person, but I know that being more engaged online doesn't make me more so.

I guess Voldemort topics tend to degrade into flamewars, which is why they eventually get flagged.

Personally I read enough about Voldemort in mainstream news, so I don't need such discussions here, but apparently many people do. I don't flag them - it would have been too much of a chore.

I just learned a new phrase https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewbacca_defense