# Hacker News Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/hacker-news/ 258 people recommended Hacker News in Hacker News comments, 81 had mixed feelings and 140 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. People who said how long they have used it report a median of 11 years, among 16 people. It was recommended in 12 of 12 months, in 231 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Recommended for informed, well-moderated discussion of tech news and for its fast, minimal pages without dark patterns, though many feel quality has declined and the dated interface lacks features. Summary written by Claude from 50 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 48 of those comments still count. Claude agents reviewed it against the quotes on 2 Nov 2026. ## Why people recommend it - Informed, high-quality discussion (6 comments in the sample): "Only on HN can you stumble into the comments section just moments after a CTO, founder, author, etc. left unfiltered remarks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48718150)) "At best HN has a very small subset of the problems in social media, and its positives easily outweigh its negatives." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47895376)) "the curating is done by real people (not by AI), and often the comments add a lot of value to the discussed article" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46150589)) - Civil, self-policing moderation (6 comments in the sample): "recent changes in their comment system have reduced my exposure to bots to a level I much prefer over every other platform I use" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47369417)) "Hackernews does not have crazy moderators or at the least not as many; there is more free-form discussion, which is great." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45875730)) "the culture here promotes staying on topic and being civil, which is good for productive debate, but not really fun" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48989176)) - Discover great software and projects (3 comments in the sample): "I have found so many great open source projects & communicated with many interesting people which would've been hard to do so without this forum" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46868677)) "I trust that if something is important enough to get posted here (and make the front page), then I should probably be aware of it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46795221)) "I have found some really really great software which I must not have found if it were not for Hackernews" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46601029)) - No dark patterns or engagement-baiting (2 comments in the sample): "employs the least amount of dark patterns and is the only website that I know of that natively helps people for whom the use of…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49021285)) "I think the hn model is decent because it doesn't optimize for engagement but for intellectual curiosity" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46514536)) ## What people warn about - Dated UI missing basic features (4 comments in the sample): "HN doesn't freeze sorts, so posts and/or comments you didn't see will often invisibly end up before the new location HN sent you to" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50218647)) "I can't follow particular users or topics, I can't leave myself a note about some user that I've had a positive or negative experience with" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45959271)) "Nowhere in the HN UI is the poster warned of this, because that would add complexity which would violate HN's principles of minimalism." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46988237)) - Inconsistent or heavy-handed moderation (3 comments in the sample): "the website is designed poorly, moderated inconsistently, and the YC-affiliated retinue is sketchier than a pencil drawing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46968435)) "If Hacker News doesn't improve its moderation (especially of fascist propaganda) I do think it should go the same way." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46447539)) "HN is kind of like the HOA of websites, giving you notices about color choice, pets, and under construction gifs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49087661)) - Quality and tone have declined (2 comments in the sample): "It’s nowhere near as good as it was even five years ago, but it’s still one of the only online spaces I visit everyday." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46606408)) "I've soured on this site over the past few years due to the heavy partisanship that wasn't as present in the early days" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47430798)) - YC affiliation and corporate bias (1 comment in the sample): "it's a news blog run by a startup incubator as a way to increase discussion and submarine in their concept and products" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48448328)) ## Other discussion forums people recommend - [Reddit](https://hackerapproved.com/p/reddit/): 111 recommend, 113 mixed, 933 criticize - [Lobsters](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lobsters/): 87 recommend, 16 mixed, 25 criticize - [Old Reddit](https://hackerapproved.com/p/old-reddit/): 52 recommend, 7 mixed, 44 criticize - [Slashdot](https://hackerapproved.com/p/slashdot/): 22 recommend, 9 mixed, 18 criticize ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://news.ycombinator.com/) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Hacker News", https://hackerapproved.com/p/hacker-news/ (258 recommend, 81 mixed, 140 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 3 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.