I don't think there is anything he can do to prevent what some users consider the decline of HN. He's just not that heavy-handed. He could easily go in a kill every shit article day in and day out, but it's not in his interest to do so. As HN is a vehicle for exposure of YC startups the continued increase of users on HN is only to his benefit. That isn't to say that this is why he started the site, but it's certainly a huge benefit to him. You simply don't #1 every piece of YC startup news on Reddit. :)
I agree with you that eventually something else will come out and we will flock there to get away from HN once it gets to the point where it's mostly fluff articles about Apple and politics.
Yes it makes sense that even in the case of a not real 'startup' as HN it still is too valuable to perform drastic actions. Thanks for sharing your point of view.
I agree with you that eventually something else will come out and we will flock there to get away from HN once it gets to the point where it's mostly fluff articles about Apple and politics.