To a degree, the comment ranking algorithm helps, though long/fast threads do often leave brand new replies buried upon posting.
Still, I believe what makes HN unusually nice is just the stellar moderation. It is definitely imperfect, but it creates a nice atmosphere that I think ultimately does encourage people to try to be civil, even though places like these definitely have a tendency to bring out the worst in people. Having a deft touch with moderation is very hard nowadays, especially with increasingly difficult demands put against moderators and absolutely every single possible subject matter turning into a miniature culture war (how in the hell do you turn the discussion of gas ranges vs electric ranges into a culture war?!) and the unmoderated hellscapes of the Internet wrongly painting all lightweight moderation with a black mark.
I definitely fear for the future of communities like HN, because the pressure from increasingly vile malicious actors as well as the counter-active pressure from others to moderate harder, stronger, faster will eventually break the sustainability of this sort of community. When I first joined HN, a lot of communities on the Internet felt like this. Now, I know of very few.
Still, I believe what makes HN unusually nice is just the stellar moderation. It is definitely imperfect, but it creates a nice atmosphere that I think ultimately does encourage people to try to be civil, even though places like these definitely have a tendency to bring out the worst in people. Having a deft touch with moderation is very hard nowadays, especially with increasingly difficult demands put against moderators and absolutely every single possible subject matter turning into a miniature culture war (how in the hell do you turn the discussion of gas ranges vs electric ranges into a culture war?!) and the unmoderated hellscapes of the Internet wrongly painting all lightweight moderation with a black mark.
I definitely fear for the future of communities like HN, because the pressure from increasingly vile malicious actors as well as the counter-active pressure from others to moderate harder, stronger, faster will eventually break the sustainability of this sort of community. When I first joined HN, a lot of communities on the Internet felt like this. Now, I know of very few.