hn really ended up replacing Slashdot for me. Disappointingly, I took a look at /. in the past month and realized I hadn't even loaded it out in 4+ years.

Ideal would be hn style sites, decentralized like forums, and managed by individual communities. Then, stick to a standard, unlike the old phpBB, vBulletin, etc, so there can be some level of access by API.