[apathy]

I wouldn't say that HN is flawed the way elections are, because non readers aren't affected by what goes on here (I hope).

You logic strikes me as specious -- the proximity of an idea to the mushy middle is orthogonal to whether it is correct. Great ideas are often met with violent opposition -- but shitty ideas are, too. If I thought most people on HN were in fact dumbasses, as most of the electorate often seems to be, I would go somewhere else. It's the least worst forum (save perhaps Metafilter) I've found so it's a place where I go to procrastinate.

My job is to write, so my natural impulse when I see something that seems easily dismantled is to get in a bit of practice.

[luketych]

Well then you are getting better at applying logic blindly.