Comment by brudgers

My intuition is increasing the difficulty of account creation favors motivated actors and disincentivizes organic participation because:

1. ideological and/or economically motivated actors will just see it as a cost of doing business.

2. Ordinary sign-up friction is more likely to make HN appear ordinary to anyone who stumbles upon it.

3. Sign-up friction is a moat. The strength of HN is moderation of what gets in.