Of course take everything with a grain of salt.
The Hacker News community's comments are actually more intellectual than the writer's click-bait propaganda, and leaves room for debate on the author's one-sided views.
Edit: grammar
The Hacker News community's comments are actually more intellectual than the writer's click-bait propaganda, and leaves room for debate on the author's one-sided views.
Edit: grammar
Think about it, if you see a slightly greyed-out comment, that becomes a data-point in interpreting the comment.
Though compared to other places with such strong voting mechanisms, the echo chamber seems to be less in effect. Only topic I can think about where it really comes out is articles on Uber, bizarrely.
Moderation plays a small role in the HN community. Any "community bubble" is due to shared interests and a core set of guidelines. This seems like an excuse for making a libertarian rant and nothing more.
It's also worth keeping in mind that /r/ainbow was created as an alternative after the mess that /r/lgbt became. /r/games from /r/gaming is a similar example. As much as a change in moderation was a focus, it was also a different audience that moved over to the new subs.
I think in those places aggression simply serves to push people who would think differently out.
Sure, you can write complaints about Slashdot, Reddit, and HN (see siblings of this post competing to see who can slag on them the hardest), but at least there's a chance of some semblance of discussion. That is not a chance that big sites have.
If the truth hurts... downvote it so it can be hidden! Yeah, that'll show you!