The thing I like most about HN is the comments. Upvotes (and therefore discussion ranking) tend to be awarded to comments which add new knowledge and expertise

The thing I like most about HN is the comments. Upvotes (and therefore discussion ranking) tend to be awarded to comments which add new knowledge and expertise to the discussion. The format isn't the special sauce, which is very similar to Reddit. I think the special sauce is the audience doing the commenting and voting, who seem to me to be experts who enhance the content in the links. Like several others, I confess to mostly just reading the comments here, and mostly not the articles (the headline is usually enough).