Speaking of annoying and never pointed-out, shouldn't all the text in the HN top-posting box be darker.. it's like the OP is being downvoted from the outset? Makes people less responsive.
I think this is done to discourage text posts and encourage linking to an original source. This way HN links to good and interesting things, rather than being the site holding these things. We can see how the latter can go poorly with how things have gone with Reddit.