I'm kind of new here. I don't quite like any of the choices in the poll. I think the elements of HN's winningness are: a) Paul Graham gets good PR and often

I'm kind of new here. I don't quite like any of the choices in the poll. I think the elements of HN's winningness are: a) Paul Graham gets good PR and often says interesting things low on pure hype and high in thoughtful content (in a kind of feedback loop). b) PG and YC are pretty good community builders, e.g., with Startup School. c) There is money on the table but the table is only open to certain kinds of nerds / intellectuals. So that selects who might come and read / contribute to HN. Then: d) The software that runs the infrastructure has some pretty excellent design elements. It's minimalist and fast. The "new" firehose is perfect for coffee breaks. The point system, unlike most in the world, seems to give helpful feedback and keep "noise" to a minimum. A lot of it is attitude, I think. There's PG's general attitude. There's the attitude of the types YC has a history of funding. These seem to me to set a kind of high bar for submissions and comments in terms of the quality of the informativeness of them and the good natured, let's all cooperate and marvel at stuff and learn kind of spirit of the thing. e) It's a gift to the community that joins it rather than something that has to make money. It seems to display no greater (or lesser) ambition than to be good at being what it is. -t