Every time I say HN doesn't permit jokes, someone pipes up and claims it does, but then often I see a joke it results in downvotes, flags and tedious lectures about how jokes aren't allowed here. I honestly don't think humor is the cancer a lot of people here seem to think it is - the most brilliant minds in our fields often had a sense of humor and it's been a part of hacker culture since the beginning.

That said, any technically focused niche subreddit (like /r/askhistorians) is likely to be better than HN on average because it will attract more actual experts on that subject, and the more specific you get, the more likely you are to find actual experts on Reddit than HN . Also many of those subs don't allow jokes or memes anyway. HN is too broad in its mandate, "anything good hackers find interesting," and tends to be spotty outside of anything related to Silicon Valley startups and web development.