Is HN dieing?

Yeah, there's been a very notable shift here, in terms of the zeitgeist formerly being very pro-business, pro-startup, pro-innovation, and generally positive; and now the zeitgeist being very negative, cynical, anti-business, etc. Not to say that there aren't still voices on both ends of that spectrum, but the prevailing sentiment has clearly shifted.

I wouldn't say HN is "dying" but it's not the same site it used to be. I attribute that largely to a change in the composition of the community. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is a question I'll leave for the philosophers.

I've noticed this change, and it's one of my favorite things about HN. There are fewer naive people trumpeting the "accomplishment" of raising money. There are more people advising young devs not to work for equity.

Why should we worship the idea of a startup? Startups are not noble in and of themselves. The vast majority are just a form of gambling that only wealthy people can safely afford[1][2].

As Peter Lynch said, "An investment is simply a gamble in which you've managed to tilt the odds in your favor." But a startup is never in your favor -- even if you're convinced they are[3][4]. There's still a huge amount of luck and social capital that's required, beyond just having the right product and market. Even hyper-successful founders like Biz Stone have gone on to start failures.

To prove that startups are a gamble, look at VC firms. All but a few are money-losing operations because even they can't predict who will succeed -- and it's all they're supposed to be good at![5]

I think the US is changing (for the better) in the sense that capitalist ideals, like startups, aren't blindly worshiped anymore. People ask whether we actually need another to-do app to raise $10M. To me, that's a very welcome change.

1. https://qz.com/455109/entrepreneurs-dont-have-a-special-gene...

2. https://techcrunch.com/2015/02/08/startups-a-rich-mans-game/

3. https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/11/startup-statistics-small-...

4. "A company accepted by Y Combinator, therefore, has less than a 1-in-10 chance of being a big success." http://www.businessinsider.com/startup-odds-of-success-2013-...

5. https://hbr.org/2014/08/venture-capitalists-get-paid-well-to...

> I saw a huge decline not only in the quality

This is pretty subjective. I still see lots of amazing, fascinating comments from domain experts and people who are close to stories.

> claiming there's censorship around

There have been moderation experiments, like banning politics for a short time, but I don't know what else you're talking about. I haven't seen anyone claim they're being censored, except a few people who are posting truly awful stuff.