The upvote / downvote system is at fault here too, at least with online discussion forums. Everything that doesn’t match the local culture and norms is immediately downvoted. It’s a self-reinforcing echo chamber. Reddit is notoriously bad at this.
I preferred the old forum style, where even unpopular or strange messages were still placed in chronological order.
After setting "show dead" to "on", I am rarely more enlightened than before. It seems that HN moderators are an order of magnitude better at their jobs than average and recognize value or its absence fairly well.
I agree, generally; however, I still find it (sometimes) useful to hear strong outsider views, even if only to see what patterns of thinking are propagating.
I preferred the old forum style, where even unpopular or strange messages were still placed in chronological order.