Meh. I'll bravely endure the downvotes and say that it isn't a noob illusion. It's reality. It is the arc that almost every site follows when the users start th

Meh. I'll bravely endure the downvotes and say that it isn't a noob illusion. It's reality. It is the arc that almost every site follows when the users start thinking "people here are interested in non-specific stuff as well!" Reddit started as a HN. It became a general site. The programming subreddit has become a grunty joke. Slashdot started as a differently managed HN. It has become a joke. Digg....okay, forget about Digg. HN is becoming Reddit. As short as 6 months ago I could say that every day I visited HN I learned something new and interesting in this industry. I can't remember a single thing new or interesting over the past two weeks, and increasingly it is becoming a place for people to avoid work.