HN has long gone from being dedicated just to programming and tech news. Why is it just now that you want it to be so "on-topic"?
In turbulent times like these, with hate speech, racism and sexism out of the shadows and in it's highest, it is crucial to be having conversations.
Being silent, burying head in the sand - not much different than siding on the side of the oppressor.
Whatever news are posted here - is a reflection of a community. If politics are posted, that is what people read. Instead, concentrate your efforts to battle those who game your algorithms for rankings.
HN was never dedicated just to "programming and tech news"—not from the day it was named, and this has been in the first paragraph of the site guidelines since forever: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. So that's not the issue. The issue is that this site exists for the gratification of intellectual curiosity, and political battle not only threatens that but runs roughshod over it. I tried to make this clear in what I posted above.
This article completely misses the point. It is not glossy fine hd quality that attracts, it is the soul and heart that youtubers put into videos. Be it Jenna Marbles showing an example of a strong woman, Shane Dawson who gives hope and inspiration to bullied kids across the country - you can't do the same if you will be just pouring dollars.
And no, they have someone to be 'good' for - Jenna has 8,785,657 highly engaged subscribers on youtube only, who value her sincerity above video quality.
I watch only a couple YouTube channels actively and there's a common thread in almost all of them: the 'host' has an interesting personality. Sometimes that personality is completely fabricated and sometimes it's real - it doesn't really matter since viewers don't care. It's a lot like how the Stephen Colbert on 'The Colbert Report' isn't really the real-life Stephen Colbert. The videos also are typically more throwaway than TV - and that's why production is so low and the comparisons don't hold up.
It's the allure of a la carte TV, where if you want some girl talk, gun videos, a let's play, or funny cat compilation video, it's all there and easily digestible at any point in the day.
In turbulent times like these, with hate speech, racism and sexism out of the shadows and in it's highest, it is crucial to be having conversations.
Being silent, burying head in the sand - not much different than siding on the side of the oppressor.
Whatever news are posted here - is a reflection of a community. If politics are posted, that is what people read. Instead, concentrate your efforts to battle those who game your algorithms for rankings.