Yes, and text doesn't need to have maximum contrast (#000 over #FFF) to be legible. The website you linked above says:
> W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines set the minimum contrast between text and its background so that it can be read by people with moderately low vision (which is quite common).
If you follow that link to W3C, you'll see that the minimum contrast for text to be considered legible is 3:1, though that's for people with standard vision (it's the lowest rating). To be truly accessible, the minimum we should strive for is 7:1. Anything above that has a AAA rating.
I'm an eternal lurker and UX happens to be my passion. I'll break my vows of silence to state this: saying that HN has bad UX is an understatement. I spent years missing out on the site because, in its natural state, it's quite simply unreadable to me. It reminds of 4chan (not that I would ever want to use 4chan, but that's precisely why I mention it). I can't browse it unless it's on an app on my phone, or with the set of custom CSS snippets I wrote for Stylus on my PC (and that's just to make it readable).
It's also built with table elements. The programmer in me is screaming because that's not the proper use of tables (I know that was the way to build layouts in the past, but that was then and this is now). The UXer in me is screaming because it's a nightmare for accessibility.
I want to add that I'm not coming from the "Overengineer-and-Bloat-Every-Website" UX School of Thought, so I agree with your point about Reddit. Being performant and light on resources is part of what makes a good UX, but that's the thing: there's more to UX that loading fast and running without hiccups. I think HN's experience could be greatly improved without compromising in any of those aspects.
> W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines set the minimum contrast between text and its background so that it can be read by people with moderately low vision (which is quite common).
If you follow that link to W3C, you'll see that the minimum contrast for text to be considered legible is 3:1, though that's for people with standard vision (it's the lowest rating). To be truly accessible, the minimum we should strive for is 7:1. Anything above that has a AAA rating.