[zucker42]

This used to be called Reddit. Not so much anymore, since they started optimizing for advertisers instead of users.

I don't think there are going to be very many places like HackerNews. "Hackers" as a subculture are bolstered by the fact that Internet based modes of communication and work (not just forums but also things like Github) are seen as interesting and productive. Plus the people capable designing such a forum are likely to be software people; it's a bit more difficult for a skilled mechanical engineer to quickly set up a forum. So it's no surprise that many of the forums are software/"hacker" oriented (e.g. Blind, Lobste.rs, HN). Any forum built by software engineers for other people seems doomed to go the way of Reddit rather than the way of HN.

However, I'll give a shoutout for a great community forum that I've participated in, and that's ChiefDelphi. But that's super niche (it's focused around the high school FIRST robotics competition).

[AtlasBarfed]

The memes destroyed a large part of reddit's intellectualism. Not that it descended to the depths of youtube comments, but it was still a fall.

[seanicus]

Which is a 1:1 with the age demo of the site lowering precipitously. When I noticed the uptick of memes and posts about living with parents and going to HS I knew there was a big change on the site. There are still many good individual subreddits but the bigger they get the worse the contributors get. It says a lot that even in the small, dedicated subs meme posts are usually at the top of the 'all time' sort.

[specialist]

I just can't imagine why all threaded forums aren't structured like HN (and lobste.rs). For the life of me, neither slashdot nor reddit has ever made any sense to me. Everything else, less so.

The flat (non-threaded) forums have their place. For low traffic, low engagement blog comments feedback stuff.

[harshthedev]

What's the difference between HN and Reddit's thread structure? Both are threaded. And I actually prefer the lines besides the comments, makes the discussion easier to follow.

[bmitc]

How is Reddit different from Hacker News aside from the existence (basically required due to the size) of subreddits?

[specialist]

Reddit "smart" collapses subthreads. Sometimes those links expand. Sometimes they open new page. Infuriating.

HN does page big threads, which isn't too bad. I'm immensely grateful HN doesn't do any silly AJAX style background, progressive loading of content.

[mousepilot]

Really dislike all the new "infinite scroll" stuff.

[seanicus]

Age range on here and tech-based outlook is much more mature than most of what's on Reddit. In many ways HN feels like Reddit when it first started. The audience and commenters were very similar to what HN is now; a lot of tech-y people and a heavy SV influence.

[bmitc]

That addresses the cultural differences and not the structural differences, which is what the comment was talking about.