I just bought this domain but I can give it to YC without money if they want it.
godaddy forwarding is not working so for now you have to use it with alias www.
godaddy forwarding is not working so for now you have to use it with alias www.
That said, I think that the news.yc domain name is very intentional- It emphasizes the connection the site has with the Y Combinator application and submission process.
When PG et all review yc applications, they look over the posts that people have made to the forum, and use that as an element in their judgement. Knowing that this is the case encourages people to make thoughtful and relevant posts, rather than just posting LOLcats, and the like.. Essentially, it's reddit, but your conduct matters, if you want to join the YC club.
For that reason and others, I suspect that the YC crew probably prefer the name being predominately tied with the Y Combinator brand.
This is probably why you don't see many hackers here. PG said recently that he is "cautiously optimistic" about this community. Between the lines, that sounds like disappointment. Old reddit this site is certainly not.