I'm with you. I find HN refreshing. I come here because it is the crux. I come here so I don't have to read all the pointless, time wasting BS.
On top of that, HN seems like a get-shit-done site. If you aren't contributing, get out of the way. If you don't have something nice - no scratch that - *useful to say, then don't say anything at all. And this is not to be mistaken with, no laughing allowed, no fun, and no hearts. It is more of an efficiency thing.
For me, I'm not here or on any other message board to "get shit done"... if I am getting shit done then I'm not surfing the Internet, by definition. I come to sites like this to learn stuff, find cool links, run across things I had never heard of or thought of before, and hopefully have interesting conversations. I really detest the constant pressure of having to self-censor and edit what I say with a view to making sure it's "useful"... whatever the definition of useful is.
It's funny that after a long hiatus I do a drive by here and this thread is on the front page.
Also the point thing sucks, frankly. Whether you want to or not, you start keeping track of your points, wondering what you could do to get more, feeling jealous of others who have way more than you, etc. Human nature I suppose. It also sucks to call it some bullshit euphemistic name like "karma", which obscures what it really is, which is a social ranking system.
I would say that 4chan and YouTube comments are at one extreme, and Hacker News sits squarely at the opposite extreme. Neither appeal.
On top of that, HN seems like a get-shit-done site. If you aren't contributing, get out of the way. If you don't have something nice - no scratch that - *useful to say, then don't say anything at all. And this is not to be mistaken with, no laughing allowed, no fun, and no hearts. It is more of an efficiency thing.