HackerNews overall seems to lean deeply reactionary, to the point where apparently "don't be a jerk if you want to participate in this project" is read as a threat. I'm not sure why all of these people think the situation is better without a CoC, abusive mods are still going to be abusive but without any expectations upfront. I just don't see any downside to making it clear that GCC-related conversations are expected to be civil and on-topic and that yes, the things you do and say in public can have social consequences. That's always been true, now it's just a little more plain what the expectations are.