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The thing is, HN doesn't just contain links for the intellectually curious. It often has stories about a new school of thought, or an approach to design, or a new programming language or something. However, it also often has stories about Internet Drama in the tech startup community, or American political events, or practical advice for people entering the business world for the first time. They're popular here because they're relevant to a large proportion of the HN user-base, but it's certainly possible for someone to be both intellectually curious and uninterested in American politics.


I would argue that American politics as they affect the internet and copyright impacts pretty much everyone, unfortunately.


Which doesn't necessarily mean everyone would be interested in reading about the newest developments weekly.


> It often has stories about [...] a new programming language [...]

That's something I think could be automated (at least for me.)

I can (and do) guess whether I am likely to be interested in a new programming language, based on what other languages the commenters compare it to.

In my case it would probably be something like:

* Compared to Haskell, Io or SETL => very interesting

* Compared to Java, JS or Scheme => neutral

* Compared to Groovy, PHP and VB => uninteresting




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