[crucialfelix]

I think the non flashy design of HN is a feature. eg. hilariously unstyled login page. It means people need to use their brains to realize why all these people congregate here : for the content and discussion.

If the site is altered to make it easier to post and comment faster then I am guessing the quality of conversation would go down. Currently you are aware that the comment needs to be well written and not frivolous. Anything about the interface that makes it faster to read and comment will move the usage in the direction of frivolity.

[yashodhan]

It's very reminiscent of early reddit, with its ugly interface. The ugly interface was actually a feature and a usability bonus. It kept out a lot of riff raff that tried to migrate to reddit from Digg (which at the time had a larger community).

I think HN should have an element of difficulty to its UX, because that keeps the user standard high.