I think you can partly answer the question by looking at /r/news or similar subreddits. Why are those subreddits the way they are? Why is HN what it is? A par

I think you can partly answer the question by looking at /r/news or similar subreddits. Why are those subreddits the way they are? Why is HN what it is? A part of the answer is that HN does not attract the Great Bellcurve of Humanity. This helps in a variety of ways. Irrelevant, noisy, obnoxious people are less likely to be on HN. Reasonable minds may differ on this point. :-) Another more important reason -- and why I think a generalized "news" site would fail -- is because it is difficult to define what is newsworthy. Here on HN it is easier to pick out the outliers (hint: they have the word "Trump") in the title) and flag them away. But by far the most important reason is the presence of good moderators. HN has great moderators, who ply their trade quietly, with good will. Good moderation doesn't scale. It requires individuals. Attempts at automating its effects seem only partly effective. In the eternal fight of department stores vs boutiques, boutiques will win, because there is a human there.