The HN you are yearning for disappeared about 8-10 years ago when it was largely taken over by normies and people way outside the hard-core-tech fold. It's not very different from Reddit front-page now if the topic is even remotely political.
For purely technical topics you expect good quality discussion, but those threads barely get comments in the two digits.
For purely technical topics you expect good quality discussion, but those threads barely get comments in the two digits.