I actually really like the focus on personal & emotional issues we have here; I think that a lot of readers here suffer and/or have suffered alone, and this is a bit of a community of sorts for many.
It doesn't scale particularly well though. With many thousands of active users here, posting when they have implemented some really cool technology they want to share furthers the HN community. However, posting when they have personal or emotional issues would dilute the HN community and turn it into something different.
That said, there will always be exceptions and I'm neither the person nor am I qualified to make such determinations other than to choose to upvote or not.
I think the upvotes work it out well. It isn't like the front page is inundated with personal life stories. If one in a while is voted up it likely left a mark on people.
That said, there will always be exceptions and I'm neither the person nor am I qualified to make such determinations other than to choose to upvote or not.