Well I think it also has a lot to do with, that, beyond a certain look & feel, this example has very little in common with a print news paper (or online outlet

Well I think it also has a lot to do with, that, beyond a certain look & feel, this example has very little in common with a print news paper (or online outlet that use that style). In a traditional news paper absolutely everything is carefully curated. What stories go where, how much space they can take, whether they'll have an image, title setting guidlines, grouped by various things like topic, etc. For example the www.nytimes.com front page is very closely structured like a traditional print paper: The top stories (the main sellers from the kiosk age) of the moment are "above the fold", followed by a bit broader polical or societal pieces and the going into more and more softer content like fashion, cooking, travel. The latter topics are were generally the bulk of the advertisment money comes in. So I think a newspaper mode for sites like HN could work well. Not as a live view, but instead of say a weekly, curated edition of what has been relevant and interesting.