I understand they can do whatever they want, and I also know the relationship between YC and HN. They could make job posts blend in even more, artificially boos

I understand they can do whatever they want, and I also know the relationship between YC and HN. They could make job posts blend in even more, artificially boost YC-positive content, and weigh down YC-negative content, and they would be totally within their rights, and if we don't like it we can leave. I think I understand why you are defending HN. You see how a small community grew to what it is now, and all of the unpaid work that went into that. I don't think that is in conflict with the idea of being super transparent (to the point where it's obvious to everyone) about things like sponsored posts. It's clearly not obvious to everyone. You make a good point about the hiring threads. I agree those are evidence that YC is making an effort to support non YC startups.