I strongly disagree. Not because humor is inherently bad, but because it's too dangerous, too likely to overwhelm the parts of HN that I appreciate. It's like suggesting that a little heroin on the weekend would really brighten up the week. Maybe true, but unlikely remain 'just a little'.
Let's concentrate on content and insight here, and let the other sites be the catch-all communities for those who want more 'balance'. If you enjoy Reddit or Digg as they currently are, or prefer other sites that balance humor and content, please use them rather than trying to remake HN in their image.
Please do. I briefly debated choosing 'meth' or 'coke' in my analogy, and went with heroin because the it's one of the few drugs that is frequently fully demonized, and because I worried the others were American slang. I think heroin better creates the impression I want, although meth might be more technically accurate.
Note that the analogy is not that each individual user will suffer as due to drug addiction, but that the community as a whole will be ravaged by the cumulative effects of the drug. Compare the comment quality on Digg, Reddit, and HN as viewed through the light of http://www.montanameth.org/View_Ads/index.php.
Let's concentrate on content and insight here, and let the other sites be the catch-all communities for those who want more 'balance'. If you enjoy Reddit or Digg as they currently are, or prefer other sites that balance humor and content, please use them rather than trying to remake HN in their image.