Definitely. HN is suspiciously devoid images. To most people on the internet in 2022 that alone makes it wholly uninteresting.
I often wonder how the site survives without sticky autoplay videos popping up halfway down the page and covering 80% of the content...
Surely it's due to the mobile application that HN is always pushing. And the invasive tracking. And the paywall. And the ads, the ads go without saying.
The ads keep HN alive. But because each one only needs to sell "one product" (the job they're hiring for) nobody hardly notices them.
It uses images for the upvote/downvote arrows, the Y in the header, and the spacer gifs in the table layout (yes, HN uses table layouts)
HN reads like grumpy old tech and finance guys in Dockers pants and Alligator t-shirts stuck in 2000.