It's true. But ignorant speculation forms a chunk of every thread. The solution isn't to try to restrict posting to authorized opinion—that would cause more harm than good and is impossible anyway. The solution—well, there's no solution, but the best we can do—is to let the community respond when it's able to function, and moderate the threads to the extent that it's not.
When I last looked in on this one, it seemed to me that the community was functioning ok—noticeably better, in fact, than in most of the coronavirus discussions, which are highly repetitive. Repetition is bad on HN, not only because it's lacking in intellectual curiosity, but because it leads to flamewars. The mind seems to resort to conflict to amuse itself when nothing new and interesting is available.
When I last looked in on this one, it seemed to me that the community was functioning ok—noticeably better, in fact, than in most of the coronavirus discussions, which are highly repetitive. Repetition is bad on HN, not only because it's lacking in intellectual curiosity, but because it leads to flamewars. The mind seems to resort to conflict to amuse itself when nothing new and interesting is available.