I've thought about this a bunch. While endless variables I suspect the key one for HN is controlling the posts and the front page.
The more in depth technical & startup focused they are, and the lower the ratio of more community/political/front page news topics the less you are going to attract 'the downgrading type'. If a good ratio of the front page is for lack of a better examples, 'technical debates on java vs python' or 'algorithms you admire' its going to steer a bunch of people away, and probably the people you dont want for the more general conversations.
That said, I really enjoy the current news topics being discussed here as on the whole you get interesting takes, but the more you open that door, the more it will attract people focused on that side of life than tech/startup and the decline happens.
The other though I've had on this is rather than a voting up/down system, put a few checkbox tick/cross options for things like: adds value, polite, fact based, funny and 1) run user/page scoring algorithms on those plus 2) Have a exam for rules and maybe general knowledge for people that either have many negatives or vote in ways that dont support community rules/values. I suspect it would just steer people away in but Id be interested in seeing it tried and if it steered away the chaff alone, or everyone.
I agree. A problem arises though when moderation goes too far and a website/forum/online community is turned into a Stack Overflow, a useful place but way to over moderated, with established users being very toxic to new ones.
The more in depth technical & startup focused they are, and the lower the ratio of more community/political/front page news topics the less you are going to attract 'the downgrading type'. If a good ratio of the front page is for lack of a better examples, 'technical debates on java vs python' or 'algorithms you admire' its going to steer a bunch of people away, and probably the people you dont want for the more general conversations.
That said, I really enjoy the current news topics being discussed here as on the whole you get interesting takes, but the more you open that door, the more it will attract people focused on that side of life than tech/startup and the decline happens.
The other though I've had on this is rather than a voting up/down system, put a few checkbox tick/cross options for things like: adds value, polite, fact based, funny and 1) run user/page scoring algorithms on those plus 2) Have a exam for rules and maybe general knowledge for people that either have many negatives or vote in ways that dont support community rules/values. I suspect it would just steer people away in but Id be interested in seeing it tried and if it steered away the chaff alone, or everyone.