I understand the feeling - it's true that HN's rules introduce a certain blandness into conversation, at least along some axes. I've been writing about this for

I understand the feeling - it's true that HN's rules introduce a certain blandness into conversation, at least along some axes. I've been writing about this for years: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20blandness&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que.... The reason for this isn't corporateness, though. It's internet group dynamics. You can't have a large open forum like HN without truncating the extremes of language, because if you try to allow the sharp and witty kind of extremes, you end up getting drowned in the blunt and crude kind. The damage done by mean (in both senses!) harshness greatly outweighs anything good under the long tail.