[kendallpark]

HN discourages the sort of clever-yet-unsubstantial one-liner jokes that earn a lot of karma on Reddit. It reserves the space for thoughtful discussions. Getting rid of the memes simply doesn't fly in other online communities.

I'd also put money on the average age of HN commenter being higher than that of other internet communities.

I know of other rich and healthy online communities, but they are fairly niche.

[uncomputation]

I also feel the text-only format and less visible “points”/“likes” has something to do with it. It’s harder to be attention-grabbing with just text. In many ways, HN feels to me like an online email thread.

[nullsense]

Everyone that comes here for the comments leaves comments that others like to come here for.

It's the good old "Culture eats strategy for breakfast."

I love HN culture.

[RealStickman_]

> I'd also put money on the average age of HN commenter being higher than that of other internet communities.

That might be true. However, from my experience maturity is way more important than actual age. Some maturity comes with age, but a lot of it is also individual behaviour in my opinion.

[erikbye]

A good majority of HNers may also be Redditors.

[saagarjha]

Many probably are. The ones that do well on both sites know how to adjust their comments to match the site they’re on.

[rimliu]

HN is just another echo-chamber minus the puns.

[saagarjha]

Hacker News has puns occasionally.

[Brian_K_White]

trivially disproven

[erikbye]

Is it? Controversial opinions are downvoted here, too. The Overton window is real.

[lkbm]

The Overton window is real, but it's fairly wide open.

I could post a pro-socialism argument and get upvoted, I could post a pro-capitalism argument and get upvoted. I could criticize GMOs, or praise them. I could probably defend Trump if I'm thoughtful about it, or decry him.

Can I say "Capitalism/Socialism/GMOs/Trump is dumb" and get upvoted? No. Can I point out problems (or benefits) of them? Yes--so long as I'm not inflammatory about it.

[doc_gunthrop]

When a post involves gender and/or race, the Overton window is quite narrow. Those appear to be the most controversial with the comments section filled with snark and polemics.

[jacquesm]

:s/Controversial/nonsensical/g

[anoncake]

:s/nonsensical opinions/opinions I disagree with/g

[jacquesm]

No, not really. You can't 'disagree' with pedophile politician rings any more than you can disagree with the moon landing having taken place. The one is reality, the other is not. That's what the nonsensical stands for.

It is quite interesting what people are willing to believe when individuals in power state these things with great certainty. But personally I prefer to have my fiction and real-world views separated by a healthy dose of skepticism.