I'd go with that the industry has changed and that the makeup of the HN users has changed. I'd venture to guess that a much larger percent of HN users back in 2013 were really into startups than merely tech news.
What's really interesting is that the industry has changed. Back in 2013 or earlier, there were still many new scenarios. The mobile ecosystem was rapidly expanding, we probably tried new apps on a weekly basis if not daily. The cloud was still relatively new and many companies were either trying to figure out how to use cloud or leverge cloud. The enterprise world was getting interesting too, many infrastructure systems were popping up left and right. There was this genuine vibe that our life and work could benefit from tech. Now I'm not so sure. It feels like many people are quite content with the life, and it is increasingly harder to see what changes we'd really desire. As a result, the optimism about startups has also abated.
What's really interesting is that the industry has changed. Back in 2013 or earlier, there were still many new scenarios. The mobile ecosystem was rapidly expanding, we probably tried new apps on a weekly basis if not daily. The cloud was still relatively new and many companies were either trying to figure out how to use cloud or leverge cloud. The enterprise world was getting interesting too, many infrastructure systems were popping up left and right. There was this genuine vibe that our life and work could benefit from tech. Now I'm not so sure. It feels like many people are quite content with the life, and it is increasingly harder to see what changes we'd really desire. As a result, the optimism about startups has also abated.