HN seems very well constructed for being a mono-culture. Every story is only active for a day or so. And a lot of what people know about the issue is going to be from the previous stories. Both when commenting, but especially so when voting. So for every iteration of an issue the most prevailing opinion is going to get more and more established. While it will become more and more work to dissent. At the end you find yourself holding opinions that you don't really know what the came from or if they are even correct, just that other people seem to agree with them.