[benjamincanfly]

I'm a little surprised that PG hasn't already capped the number of users.

I think it would be great if user registration happened in seasons. I.e. every three months, there's a 48-hour period during which new people can sign up. The purpose of this would be to allow the site to retain a unique personality. If you constantly add new people, it's hard to know who's who and what we're doing here. Treat it more like a large and semi-exclusive collective, and give it a chance to center itself for a while before expanding again.

[Prrometheus]

I like that idea. It would preserve the egalitarian internet spirit by allowing anyone to join, but prevent waves of new people from joining every time Hacker News gets publicized.