I haven't read through all of those but did want to add that it may be warranted to have this discussion ("is HN becoming reddit?") at different points in time

I haven't read through all of those but did want to add that it may be warranted to have this discussion ("is HN becoming reddit?") at different points in time as both communities have changed a lot since 2007 - i.e. its possible that HN was becoming what reddit was in 2007, and again in 2012 or something, and again in 2022. It might be an interesting conversation to have: has HN trailed Reddit over time in some of its more negative aspects? The guidelines dismissing this I think is wrong.