[resters]

After the Russian meddling in the 2016 election stuff was discussed on HN, the moderation got very strict and the HN community lost some of its unique flavor and spirit.

I know the mods were not intending to cause this to happen, but they seem to have taken their mission a bit too seriously and extended their wrath onto anyone playing devil's advocate or posting too rapidly, etc.

Now HN has a much more sterile, corporate feel. Before the change, politics was occasionally discussed in a mostly mature and friendly way, and unhelpful comments were simply downvoted without the "help" of moderators.

Censorship and strict "community standards" about what is considered an appropriate vs inappropriate opinion, and what comment style is considered acceptable (to mods) has become the norm.

Fortunately, HN can still do a pretty good job of covering programming related topics and some startup-relevant stuff, but the old HN, the place where I often found my mind getting changed by an insightful comment or a dialog between others, seems to be gone forever.