Honestly I think Reddit, at least in terms of topic segmentation, original demographic, and rough functionality (threads conversations) is the closest thing we

Honestly I think Reddit, at least in terms of topic segmentation, original demographic, and rough functionality (threads conversations) is the closest thing we have. The biggest difference: the maturity and culture (compared to when reddit started). This isn't a problem that needs "solving". If you want a different community, you either need to find one or start one. HN is probably the closest demographic to what Usenet had, so advertising anything you start here would make sense. I've thrown around the idea of a paid access forum with heavy amounts of curation, strict rules etc. The biggest obstacle is the network effect. The only ways I have thought of to overcome this initially are: have a launch date with pre-signups so that a chunk of people join at the same time, and, have some high profile individuals from within your demographic agree to join. Eg find some CEOs or CTOs, academics, thought leaders, commentators, whoever - people with big names within your target demographic - and have them sign on to participate. This will attract more people and might help with the initial network effect hurdle.