The only real advantage that I see is that it's where all the people are. The discussions on forums are better than what you get on twitter (even today) and it is easier to find old content.
HN is sort of a cross between a forum and something like twitter. Content moves off the front page pretty quick so it rarely makes sense to reply to a post that is more than a day or so old if you want people to reply to you. Since most forums are relatively slow places you can catch up on things at your leisure and important threads stick around for a long time as people debate things and add to them.
HN is sort of a cross between a forum and something like twitter. Content moves off the front page pretty quick so it rarely makes sense to reply to a post that is more than a day or so old if you want people to reply to you. Since most forums are relatively slow places you can catch up on things at your leisure and important threads stick around for a long time as people debate things and add to them.