[O1111OOO]

> This site, with the name "Hacker News", was already popular

You mean, with the name "ycombinator", right? I remember accessing this site a few times in the (distant) past and was a little confused as to what it was and what it was "selling" (based on the actual frontpage).

I'd check out https://ycombinator.com/ and assumed the news subdomain was a forum or some '1337' thing.

I say this as a slashdotter, digger, redditor (and others) - all of whom have and always had brand naming. I'd say that over the last couple of years, HN has crossed a bridge into the mass market. Before then... it was niche.