It seems to be the life cycle of digital communities. There's a certain threshold of critical-mass popularity where quality of content almost seems to become in

It seems to be the life cycle of digital communities. There's a certain threshold of critical-mass popularity where quality of content almost seems to become inversely proportional to quantity of people in the community. That threshold is a moving target, but it certainly seems to manifest around the same time as people start throwing around the letters IPO; or at least, when the community is big enough for some MBA to come in and try and squeeze them for profit. I admit I'm unclear on the exact nature of HN and YC, but with YC being a VC, and my assumption that HN is a property of YC, I think two big things HN has going for it is that it's probably not going to IPO as a result of that situation and dang does a fantastic job moderating (there's something to be said for a well moderated community, most don't appreciate that). Never know when company will decide it's time for a pivot and shake things up though.