Checkout motherfuckingwebsite[1], bettermotherfuckingwebsite[2], and thebestmotherfuckingwebsite if you want to see what can be done with pure html and minimal css.
I strongly disagree, 1 looks dated, aesthetically unpleasing and unreadable because sentences stretch to the whole screen.
It is basically a text file in a basic font being rendered on the screen. You might as well use notepad instead.
What's the point of not using CSS to make it look at least half decent? What does this improve other than the elitist standpoint that websites should be no more than an unstyled text document because this is what it was 25 years ago?
I truly do not understand the constant pushback against things looking aesthetically pleasing on HN. Not everything has to look like a console terminal spit out some text.
Because 3 doesn't look half decent, it looks a mess from the geocities age. 2 is better than 3, its worst feature is the terrible contrast, and the tiny width that's barely wider than an iphone in portait mode.