In the current polarized era, all discussion online is inherently political. The only way to escape it is in small groups with other people you have mutually agreed not to talk about it with.
This is the result of Citizens United; when elections are decided by who has the most money, it’s a zero-sum game until politics have consumed the totality of our lives.
Is HN "small"? Political discussions at HN (which are quite rare) seem obviously low-quality compared to the rest of the site, but still rank well above much of the Internet. I assume that the same would go for many niche-focused spaces, where curiosity and intellectual interest can dominate.
I actually don’t feel the discussion on any topic on HN is any higher quality than other sites with a similar age demographic. And yeah, HN is kinda small by internet standards.
This is the result of Citizens United; when elections are decided by who has the most money, it’s a zero-sum game until politics have consumed the totality of our lives.