Dicussion on Hacker News is not qualitatively better than on any number of well moderated technical subreddits or niche trade forums, and most of the articles posted here are cross-posted from Reddit and other sites. The only real differentiating factor is that Hacker News aggressively downvotes humor and polices for tone.
Every now and then threads pop up asking about alternative HN-like forums, here are some:
Every now and then threads pop up asking about alternative HN-like forums, here are some:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20023209
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16342192
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23402797