I've seen a few people on HN offer invites to other users after a conversation regarding the site. I've also seen lobste.rs threads where users suggest preventi

I've seen a few people on HN offer invites to other users after a conversation regarding the site. I've also seen lobste.rs threads where users suggest preventing new users from joining and even suggesting deleting existing users so they can preserve whatever perceived superiority their site has, so I don't expect them to be very open in general.