[wkat4242]

I agree. It feels a lot like the internet and in particular Usenet was before the floodgates opened. It was a select community of mainly academics and people with a strong interest and it was very common too see big names going head to head (the big Linus vs Tanenbaum discussion on kernel design as a particular example). It was an amazing place.

Hacker News feels like it stems from that era even though it doesn't. It's just very well moderated and just enough under the radar to avoid being heavily politicized. I think the excellent moderation and the community shaped by it makes all the difference.