I've found Reddit posts and comments tend to appeal toward the average person. It's like I'm listening to pop music while reading Reddit comments - the same thing over and over again. The same kind of averageness that gets tiring and unfulfilling to read.
What I like about Hacker News is the comment and link quality is very high. What I like about Reddit is I can read about any topic I want.
Is there something that combines the two?
I remember r/no sleep being this incredible wellspring of enthusiasm and creativity. I remember people raving about Dr who. Can you imagine Dr who being on half the front page now? Reddit was such an important part of my life back then. I feel so lonely without that community. But for years Reddit was dead and I found a new home on HN. Sadly the same thing has happened here. I remember one day a while ago someone submitted a videogamedunkey video and it was sustained on the front page… on HN. That was the day that it truly sank in for me. And in the pst year I have felt so lonely because the internet is just dead…the average person on the sidewalk and the average person on the internet are now literally the same.
The internet isn’t novel anymore. Reddit hive mind isn’t novel anymore. I think the difference between then and now is that people used to upvote, submit and comment with true passion because everything was new and novel and people felt like it was worth the time and energy to take part in something exciting and new. But now it’s all very tired and people are sobered up. Only low effort interaction survives. The pathways of engagement have been well beaten and so everything seems to be the same. No comment is original. These forums have the same deterministic malaise as the rest of the world.
What can be done about this? I would say the only answer is to withdraw into your work and reading because nobody of quality really takes part in Internet forums anymore.