Not to mention that HN has specific technological countermeasures to prevent genuine conversations between two users from developing. Specifically, the response rate limiter and the absence of a response awareness or notification system.
In the old days, forums often had attached chatrooms. Forum people could hang out there and just do small talk. It seems every forum today, every subreddit, should have a chat room. Still, even this is not nearly as healthy as meeting people face to face.
