[croon]

> I receive my dopamine from browsing on HN. Is this better?

Two things spring to mind. You're right in that we're not interacting socially, but on the other hand you have an anonymous throwaway account, so I know you're not trying to sell me your brand. So while we're not building a social repertoire, we are (hopefully) having a constructive dialogue focused on topics, not on brand personas.

HN isn't a social network for me, or if it is, it's removed from identities. I don't come here for specific people, I come here for a collective (anonymous as far as I'm concerned as I very rarely open someones profile) group of people with links and insights I for the most part find interesting.

That makes this different from a social network where the expressed purpose is connecting individuals with old and sometimes new acquaintances, which then is entirely subverted in GPs premise.