That's not true at all! So not true that I went and checked the top comment on every page; not one of 30 came close to what you claim. Instead I saw top comments that:

* provide substantive links: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9936945

* point out possibly-critical missing information: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9936448

* compare the author's approach with one's own: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9937333

* describe showing the material to one's grandmother: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9934321

* link to the commenter's presentation on the topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9935644

* give detailed usability feedback: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9935477

People often make false generalizations about HN. I doubt that's particular to HN—probably just humans in general being human, with sample bias and all. But getting the wrong generalizations in your head can prevent you from seeing things. Here that might mean seeing less of what's good about HN, and thus getting less out of it.

This is on my mind because we've been thinking lately about new ways to highlight the positive and amazing things this community comes up with, many of which go unseen by the majority of readers.

Yes, beware! The tendency to value clever quips and memes over actual content WAS the difference between Reddit and HN. And used to be the difference between the nicer parts of Reddit and 4Chan before that... :/

"If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a common semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills." taken from https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

;)

Whoops, my bad. :s