But HN is social media, i.e. a website that would be/do nothing without other people on it also. (I hadn't really thought about that before seeing the books/talks of Clay Shirky, all excellent.)
Let's say that my consumption of HN is not social media-y - I don't care about the people that post, it took me 3 days to see your answer because I was checking for answers on another thread, and my focus on HN is content, not people.
I do understand what you mean. IMO, HN is closer to crowd sourced information than personal branding and personality cults that I see in 'social media' sites.
But there I am, answering to your comment. I am dooooooomed.