A news aggregator with a heavily-modded comments section frequented by interesting, educated people is hardly the same as a platform that drives engagement to a

A news aggregator with a heavily-modded comments section frequented by interesting, educated people is hardly the same as a platform that drives engagement to attract advertisers by crassly exploiting our basest human desires. Social media platforms are basically systems that front conversion funnels with image macros and pictures of butts. Hacker News' goal is to inspire thoughtful discourse.