I like that the past discussion and submissions are considered- but I'm not sure that the cross-posting is actually discouraging the posting of material that is

I like that the past discussion and submissions are considered- but I'm not sure that the cross-posting is actually discouraging the posting of material that isn't genuinely new? Seems like it tends to encourage discussion in the new thread, rather than having everyone first read the old stuff and then only mention any new thoughts or things which might be more relevant now in the new thread. That something hasn't been previously discussed is more a function of it being new, most of the time. I'd love to encourage people to post things which are not necessarily new but have never been discussed on HN...that'd be ideal. Otherwise, it's more likely that only time-sensitive items will truly be "new" in this sense to HN discussions. What's a good example of "hacker news" vs. merely "news"?