HN has not become explicitly more statist or less libertarian. More to the point, it has become far far more pro-establishment as its posters have seen success.

HN has not become explicitly more statist or less libertarian. More to the point, it has become far far more pro-establishment as its posters have seen success. The fact that progressivism is the zeitgeist of the establishment is ancillary to migration of poor hackers into establishment social classes.