I don't really believe that. I think HN could easily be monetized by charging subscription fees. The quality of the content is so much higher than your typical

I don't really believe that. I think HN could easily be monetized by charging subscription fees. The quality of the content is so much higher than your typical magazine and people pay tons of money for those. Another way to monetize it would be limited ads. The site has a captive, highly-targeted, highly-influencial and wealthy audience. I bet companies would kill to put ads on HN. HN is a proof of concept for a small, targeted, curated social community thing.