HN has always been a bit of a spitting contest. ChatGPT is too tempting to the narcissists who want to get on here and sound smart. I imagine this site like all other open comment sites is filled with 80% of the comments by 2% of a very chronically vocal minority. Do you want to be an expert? Do the thing. Do you want to sound like an expert? Talk about the thing on forums.
I guess my hope was that I could get people who disagree with my views to engage substantively with them by hinting that I have sufficient knowledge to weigh in here. However, that doesn't seem to have been very effective, and your point that posting here may simply be a waste of time is well-taken.