My personal opinion is that HN community voting and active moderators are a solid, definite net negative for me. I would indeed be happier if neither of those elements were present. Voting pulls conversation strongly to the mediocre center of the bell curve, and moderators only work if they're willing to strongly profess their own biases.
But it's what's here, so it's what I read. Though I rarely read the comments any more, it's mostly a link site for me at this point.
If you removed the voting and moderators, then the site culture would rapidly change. It wouldn't surprise me if it rapidly approached the culture of other tech sites with similar systems. If that's fine with you, then you could use those sites instead now.
But it's what's here, so it's what I read. Though I rarely read the comments any more, it's mostly a link site for me at this point.