That's a very hypothetical question. I think the architecture of a communal website shapes its community (after all, it exists before the community). The design

That's a very hypothetical question. I think the architecture of a communal website shapes its community (after all, it exists before the community). The design decisions of HN are distinct from say, Reddit: the are no subreddits, comment karma isn't visible, stricter rules, etc. The less-is-more rationale attracts a certain kind of personality.