HN is a perfect example. It tries very hard, and in some ways it succeeds. And yet the attention half-life for a given conversation is measured in hours and lon

HN is a perfect example. It tries very hard, and in some ways it succeeds. And yet the attention half-life for a given conversation is measured in hours and long replies often simply aren't read, let alone upvoted. While a sufficient number of people who downvote for disapproval results in stilted, shallow, uninteresting conversations more often than not. And HN is ahead of the game compared to, say, reddit or, guh, facebook.