Hacker News would be an awesome site if it weren't 99% about programming. For those of us who not only couldn't give a shit about programming but are still suffering the scars of an education focused on Fortran and Turbo Pascal, a visit to Hacker News feels a lot like a visit to the dentist.
HN is like a subreddit with very active moderation and sensitve voting-ring detection. PG enjoys the luxury of only needing to do one thing very well. Also, because of who he is, it has a huge amount of legitimacy and draw for everyone in the industry, and those who fund it. It works really well for those he is targeting (and himself, of course). But, it's true. If it's not your thing, it's not your thing. I think HN is very intentional about that. Watching the HN "new feed" with 'showdead' turned on is eye-opening. At times, the dead articles outnumber the live ones.