zlacker

It's clear to see that you (all) have kept HN as good as it is over all these years, not for cynical economic reasons, but because it's right. It's right for the HN community and, given HN's somewhat unique position, maybe we can even say it's right for the larger society.

I'm sure that over the years there have been countless opportunities to ruin the community for short term gain, and because the right decisions were made, the community will in most cases never know or appreciate the choice. The only evidence is that HN is still here, and hasn't been trampled down by the armies of mammon even when so many other internet communities have been.

Sometimes you have to protect a goose, even at cost, just because it's a happy goose and it's alive.

It's rare in a place where so many think they are being hard-nosed little economists (though actually merely joining the chorus of short-sighted armchair bean-counters) to admit that you did something without needing any economic justification.