That's interesting. I've not really thought a lot about how Hacker News is social media platform. But it does fit the bill in terms of a virtual community for m

That's interesting. I've not really thought a lot about how Hacker News is social media platform. But it does fit the bill in terms of a virtual community for me. I think of traditional social media as focusing on individuals rather than topics (like Hacker News or Reddit). Once you start giving power to individuals rather than ideas or topics, the community becomes toxic and unpleasant for me. Individual focused communities, where likes and followers determine value create deep centralization and power for those that wield it and frequently devolve into paid advertisements and/or product placement schemes. Topic based communities are of course not immune to toxicity and paid advertisement (as seen on Reddit). Despite that vulnerability, I've found the best social communities to be based on ideas and topics rather than those celebrating individual ideas/content. I find the discourse and topics on this site to be excellent. It's absolutely my favorite site on the web. If Hacker News ever follows in the footsteps of Reddit by optimizing dark patterns for monetization, such as paid ads, I'll be deeply disappointed. For now, though -- thanks to all that contribute to making this site great!