You may be right, but... and maybe I'm being naive here... if HN can do it, why can't local social networks? The amount of people in the network is even smaller than HN. I suppose the problem is finding good moderators that keep to an ethical standard and that ethical standard is different everywhere. Well I think I answered my own question lol
I agree. HN is heavily moderated (using both automation and human intervention). The site pays for itself by being a honeypot for tech talent, which only Y Combinator companies can access.
Neighborhood social networks have no similar way to monetize themselves and pay for talented moderators.
