The "state" of Hacker News is that simply it reflects the wider society (or societies, rather, since users are from many countries). Every major subgroup is represented here. How could it be otherwise?
It's true that when one encounters someone with views far from one's own, it can provoke a kind of shock experience. That's how your comment reads to me. If so, I'm sorry—it's not pleasant to realize that (in a way) your neighbors are not who you thought they were.
I've written about this dynamic in the past, in case you (or anyone) are interested:
It makes me think of the nazi bar problem and the classic paradox of tolerance. You are the moderator, you obviously thought about this. I understand your position, but I don't agree with it.
I worry about how the online forums will evolve in the coming years. I'm quite pessimistic, since so many people are now ennemies.
It's true that when one encounters someone with views far from one's own, it can provoke a kind of shock experience. That's how your comment reads to me. If so, I'm sorry—it's not pleasant to realize that (in a way) your neighbors are not who you thought they were.
I've written about this dynamic in the past, in case you (or anyone) are interested:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23308098.
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...