What HN has going for it is its large user base of above-average intelligence who are willing to share their thoughts on a variety of subjects, both within the

What HN has going for it is its large user base of above-average intelligence who are willing to share their thoughts on a variety of subjects, both within the realm of IT as well as outside of it. On the former many here can speak from experience, on the latter this is often more debatable but the discussion is interesting nevertheless. What HN has going against it is the ever-present phenomenon of group think in many areas: the large crowd of Apple fans ready to defend anything no matter how fruity, the spectre of political correctness looming over anything related to, well, politics, the frequent killing-off of items which counter the current narrative on some subject, etc. While annoying these factors do not (yet) outweigh the positives. I do visit HN through my own news aggregator, negating the popularity contest of articles rising and falling on the front page. This is, in my opinion, a good thing as it undoes some of the effects of the mentioned group think.