My gut feeling is that community voting is more than enough to make HN an echo chamber.
Think about it, if you see a slightly greyed-out comment, that becomes a data-point in interpreting the comment.
Though compared to other places with such strong voting mechanisms, the echo chamber seems to be less in effect. Only topic I can think about where it really comes out is articles on Uber, bizarrely.
I really don’t think it’s that simple. Plenty of anarchic places are also aggressively homogenous in the views expressed there and their overall culture (e.g. 4chan and sites like that).
I think in those places aggression simply serves to push people who would think differently out.
I'm not sure if that's true. While voting does definitely encourage an echo chamber, it requires moderation so that the true majority doesn't gain a foothold. If it weren't for the moderation on this site, it would be much like reddit.
Which means nothing, because nearly every reddit community is different.
Moderation plays a small role in the HN community. Any "community bubble" is due to shared interests and a core set of guidelines. This seems like an excuse for making a libertarian rant and nothing more.
I'm far from a libertarian. I think moderation is a good thing, I just think we need to recognize that it creates bubbles in and of itself. If you want a more concrete reddit example, /r/lgbt and /r/ainbow would provide a concrete example. Moderation provides the tone for a community unless it remains totally unmoderated.
I don't disagree that moderation can set the tone for a community. I'm just arguing that's not the case on Hacker News. This site has a very strong focus on technology and startups. Any specific niche will create a bubble.
It's also worth keeping in mind that /r/ainbow was created as an alternative after the mess that /r/lgbt became. /r/games from /r/gaming is a similar example. As much as a change in moderation was a focus, it was also a different audience that moved over to the new subs.
I think HN is less bubbly than most enclosed communities, but it's definitely a bubble whenever it comes to feminism or social justice issues. Check out any post on those issues, check the comments, and refresh. It's intense how many comments are removed.
Think about it, if you see a slightly greyed-out comment, that becomes a data-point in interpreting the comment.
Though compared to other places with such strong voting mechanisms, the echo chamber seems to be less in effect. Only topic I can think about where it really comes out is articles on Uber, bizarrely.