I used it for a year before I signed up. Lurking is always a good way to gauge a community. I have the context. I just despair that the site is leaning more towards the political and further away from the startup tech. I could be wrong, but any time i'm looking for frameworks, tech, innovation, HN isn't my first choice like I would expect.
Having said all that, This is the one site that I visit >20 times a day.