> The irony of my comment is that I'm adding nothing to the discussion, myself. Arguably by now the percentage of genuinely new information or arguments on HN

> The irony of my comment is that I'm adding nothing to the discussion, myself. Arguably by now the percentage of genuinely new information or arguments on HN is pretty low and falling. Which in a place where discussion > new knowledge is only natural. Pretty much like any place I can think of, HN is increasingly a virtual water-cooler social hangout where the participants cycle through. Just reading the thread about encryption at the top of HN as I’m writing this comment was a bit depressing, because I didn’t find any remotely novel questions, answers or lines of reasoning before giving up on that thread. The intellectual and emotional downer for me wasn’t any better than reading the shallow/empty comment that you responded to. So while I wholeheartedly concur with the sentiment you expressed, I’m also pretty much resigned to the fact, that I should expect less from HN and just move on to other parts of the net. Thank goodness, that RSS seems to be making a quiet comeback.