Has any of the many "Hacker news for...." sites ever taken off?
otherwise, i don't really think so. but i'd argue its related in that reddit has made such sites largely unnecessary. subreddits can be as narrow or broad in topic, and as open or regulated in curation as one wants. i see little value in a 'finance news' (for example) when there's /r/finance and probably around 100 other finance-related subreddits out there..
In my opinion the success or failure of a site like this depends whether or not it has enough traction to start a good community, which at the end is what makes the difference.
Intersections don't translate as well to subreddits.
i think hn benefits mainly from the fact its backed by some big-name influencers whose activities are highly relevant to its target audience. their presence is essentially a feature of the site that provides value beyond ‘link aggregation and discussion’.. it’s a differentiating feature, and is one that’s very difficult one for a new entrant, like a subreddit, to overcome. it also probably helps a lot that hn predates reddit..
these other ‘hn-like’ sites have no such differentiating features, and that’s why i don’t see them ever taking-off.. and given that reddit already exists, they’re often competing against subreddits which benefit greatly in terms of visibility.
It doesn't. Paul Graham has said he made it to be like Reddit 'used to be' (in the early days, most of Reddit's users were sock puppets of the founders, and it was pretty high quality).