There's a certain type of people that considers emoji unserious and distracting and thinks they are detrimental to nuanced and intelligent conversation.
Of course it doesn't follow that a lack of emojis is sufficient to create nuanced and intelligent conversation but said type of people also believes HN is tangibly different from Reddit.
Making a good forum is hard, so don’t hate a forum that you find worth visiting for how it works - that makes no sense unless you’re a forum guru or at least know a much better place and want to share it.
