I've moderated forums similar to HN and it's a mixed bag. There are pretty much always troublesome users who deliberately look for ways to push boundaries or break rules in spirit but not in letter. Dealing with them is a huge drain and it can be really depressing to find out how many people there are going out of their way to make your community unpleasant. Or you spend half your time deleting the same racial slurs from the same 5 or 6 people who keep evading bans.
The drama is exciting though.