They might as well jump on Twitch.tv as well, it applies just as much there. Rabid Twitch fans will donate $100 to some streams just so the streamer mentions their name live. It makes me wonder how many of them are kids who took mommy's credit card.
The only "nerd circle" I know that is fixated on MPC are otakus, for no meaningful reasons except to make themselves feel superior. (Especially subbing groups)
That's a start, but the single greatest boon to Reddit (and the Internet) would be removing /r/adviceanimals from the defaults front page. It's the most unintelligent, uninspiring, circle-jerking subreddit -- and its memes plague the Internet.
Also, they should put /r/programming in the defaults. Reddit used to be a tech community.
People aged 1-20: How did you find HN? HN isn't easily found on search engines (except for the exact keywords "hacker" and "news"). I can't imagine how a 15 year old is stumbling upon Hacker News, other than a mentor or parent referring them.