Techcrunch has changed over the years and does not cover a whole lot of the early stage funding that I used to love reading about. The dominant topics on Techcrunch now are Twitter, Facebook, Apple, Groupon, etc....
It's a shame that smaller startups don't get as much coverage on Techcrunch anymore, but hopefully others will step in to fill the gaps. TheStartupFoundry looks promising though!
Nearix, there is no conspiracy here. By the way I don't have any connection to YC whatsoever. HN is not your normal tech news site. You and I, although not related to HN, have the chance to address an issue. There is no "editor".
However as already mentioned by other users, it is normal for people that are closer to YC, to cause a viral effect for people they know.
I suppose that what we have to consider(as general users of this site), is if we get valuable information from this site. I have been reading HN for about 2 years and I believe, it has been a good source of information. As all sources of information you have to consider the articles that are more relevant to you. Being "top" ranked in HN will not make your startup/application better if it doesn't benefit the user.
It's a shame that smaller startups don't get as much coverage on Techcrunch anymore, but hopefully others will step in to fill the gaps. TheStartupFoundry looks promising though!