I love the idea, then I think about it a bit more and the value I see on HN is that almost all information is accessible. Would not want a discord like experience.
I get we also want a human connection, but if you really need a human, maybe let’s have HN meetups. It takes more efforts ao people will do it less, but it means conversations will continue to happen here, publicly.
This. I've had my email for years. Admittedly my engagement on HN is chaotic and somewhat rare but in all those years, I think I've had half a dozen one-off emails.
Maybe that shows the actual benefit (or lack thereof) DM would have?
I mean "one-off" suggests that what you received might not have delivered significant value -- what I get is usually please-use-my-product marketing encouraged only by my non-negative commenting.
I get we also want a human connection, but if you really need a human, maybe let’s have HN meetups. It takes more efforts ao people will do it less, but it means conversations will continue to happen here, publicly.