I signed up back in 2009, so almost 9 years ago now. I've been frequently telling myself since then that I should cut down, and quit using it for a while. I always end up using it again.
The reason I use it is that sometimes there's a link posted to something genuinely novel, fascinating, and/or perception-shattering. Likewise, sometimes a comment will be deep, insightful and/or informative on a poorly-known topic. These are what bring me back.
But, most often, the community is prickly, fad-driven, and increasingly conformist.
It's always been a mix. I don't think it's actually gone downhill - I think the metric of quality has changed. The new moderation team has cracked down on overt rudeness and trolling. However, the userbase has shifted - it's larger now and more dominated by employees than entrepreneurs. That leads to a narrowing of opinion. The tech industry has also become much more high-profile, and everyone is hyper-aware of the media criticism of startup culture.
Once upon a time people would express controversial opinions and expect at least a fair hearing - it felt like a friendly gathering of smart friends. Now, it feels like people standing on soapboxes shouting to a hostile crowd. People like Sebastian Marshall (https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=lionhearted) used to be top posters here, and he's no longer active -- and I doubt he'd go down well with the current crowd. Steady changes in the userbase like that change the vibe in hard-to-define ways, but it's definitely changed.
> but a few minutes on YouTube comments puts everything back in perspective
Facebook and Reddit work too ;)
I'm seeing diminished returns of my HN consultation.
Also, the hive mind developed here is quite strong and sometimes you can predict the general sentiment of the comment thread.
It's still a great source of news though.
Best way to get karma is to post a link to something on a topic that typically gains a lot of traction. E.g. a famous company talking about an JS framework. Or someone influential talking about lisp. Or be the first to post some breaking tech related news.
Once considered hiring an expert-level virtual assistant. Solely for the purpose of reading HN at regular intervals through the day. And preparing a presidential style daily briefing ;)
Karma seems to hit me a lot harder here than most sites. I think a lot of the negative ones just feels unfair, like someone didn't properly read what I wrote, or didn't like the joke. But most of the time it's good feedback because it means I didn't explain something properly or simply didn't bring anything interesting to the conversation.
"In this best of all possible worlds, everything is for the best."
~Candide.
Since Fall 2013 I've been reading HN twice a day -- over coffee in the morning and in the evening after dinner. I am a nomadic contractor who works in the blue-collar basement of the IT industry, with several years experience in Silicon Valley, Portland and Austin as a datacenter technician, service reliability engineer, and general-purpose nuts-&-bolts computer guy. For me, HN opened a window on an entirely new dimension of the industry: the world-view of the elite class in venture capital and entrepreneurship. It's fascinating to read the same articles they read, to see the world through their eyes. I don't always agree with the ultra-capitalist weltanschauung on HN, but I think I understand it better, to a certain extent.
Aside from the politics, I have learned a great deal from HN about my own technical domain: the hegemony of the Linux operating system, advantages/limitations of RESTful APIs, python as the (arguably) preferred scripting language, and much more. But the best aspect of HN is, in my opinion, the continuous stream of commentary and discussion about books on a variety of topics. It was here that I discovered Joseph Frank's magisterial biography of Fyodor Dostoevsky, which alone was worth the price of admission.
Overall, I consider HN to be an intellectual oasis in the chaotic desert known as the Internet. Many thanks to the women and men who develop and maintain this remarkable web site. Bon courage.