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A few quick searches suggests to me that Omegle had more users -- 73 million monthly versus maybe 5 million or so on HN -- but they were only worth $5 million d

A few quick searches suggests to me that Omegle had more users -- 73 million monthly versus maybe 5 million or so on HN -- but they were only worth $5 million dollars. Hacker News is not and never has been a "business" in its own right. It's part of the business model of a VC fund -- Y Combinator -- and Forbes indicates they were worth $5 billion as of 2021. Also, I don't think we know how many people moderate HN and never have. I don't work here. I just hang here sometimes and have for years. I don't have reliable info. But I am pretty sure you have no idea what you are talking about.

alephnerd 3y ago
> It's part of the business model of a VC fund -- Y Combinator It's part of YC but I can confidently say only around 4-5 people are working on it including moderation. I can also say confidently that more resources are spent by YC on Bookface and their own internal BI tools than HN.
- DoreenMichele 3y ago
  According to this comment, it had 30 moderators in 2010 when it was a lot smaller: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1837288 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1837288 It's source page gives a 404 "not found" error. The current official mod in charge pretty consistently says "no moderators did x." This handle of mine only dates to 2017, but I originally joined in 2009, so I have no idea how long you have been hanging here, but I would be really shocked if they needed 30 moderators in 2010 and now have literally one guy doing all the moderation work by himself entirely. I also doubt that people really in the know are posting here with "insider" info that wasn't cleared by staff. It's not my business. I don't feel they need to tell me such info. But I have no reason to believe your uncited assertion that you can say X "with confidence" is reliable info of any sort.
  - ipaddr 3y ago
    Back in 2009 many of those mods were posting stories / pinning stories. The flagging software wasn't as advanced. There are people with mod power not getting paid because of trust/history.. if they count in your 30 number perhaps. I'm on my 'X' number account as well

alephnerd 3y ago

> It's part of the business model of a VC fund -- Y Combinator It's part of YC but I can confidently say only around 4-5 people are working on it including moderation. I can also say confidently that more resources are spent by YC on Bookface and their own internal BI tools than HN.

DoreenMichele 3y ago
According to this comment, it had 30 moderators in 2010 when it was a lot smaller: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1837288 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1837288 It's source page gives a 404 "not found" error. The current official mod in charge pretty consistently says "no moderators did x." This handle of mine only dates to 2017, but I originally joined in 2009, so I have no idea how long you have been hanging here, but I would be really shocked if they needed 30 moderators in 2010 and now have literally one guy doing all the moderation work by himself entirely. I also doubt that people really in the know are posting here with "insider" info that wasn't cleared by staff. It's not my business. I don't feel they need to tell me such info. But I have no reason to believe your uncited assertion that you can say X "with confidence" is reliable info of any sort.
- ipaddr 3y ago
  Back in 2009 many of those mods were posting stories / pinning stories. The flagging software wasn't as advanced. There are people with mod power not getting paid because of trust/history.. if they count in your 30 number perhaps. I'm on my 'X' number account as well