Personally, I find Hacker News to be a breath of fresh air in that regard. Every other discussion area on the Internet is full of jokes - some funny, many not - and it frankly becomes tiresome after a while, everyone trying to come up with a witty comment. There's definitely a place for that (I love a good joke too) but I think it's great that there's a place for mainly serious discussion. If you want a laugh, there's everywhere else on the Internet.