While I do agree that having to give a solid reason before downvoting would be a much welcome feature to HN, being invite-only makes it a non-starter, and it only fosters elitism.
Sure, it'll always have a small, curated community, but you can be assured the politeness will stay skin-deep before long and there simply won't be enough differing points of view to allow insightful discussion of any kind. It's the same issue I keep seeing time and time again in other closed communities (e.g. invite-only Mastodon instances) where it ends up rotting them from the inside out: they're too big to remain cohesive as just a group of friends, but too small to receive any fresh air. I'd believe "cliques" would be the less polite way to call them.
Sure, it'll always have a small, curated community, but you can be assured the politeness will stay skin-deep before long and there simply won't be enough differing points of view to allow insightful discussion of any kind. It's the same issue I keep seeing time and time again in other closed communities (e.g. invite-only Mastodon instances) where it ends up rotting them from the inside out: they're too big to remain cohesive as just a group of friends, but too small to receive any fresh air. I'd believe "cliques" would be the less polite way to call them.