I kind of like the mixed bag that Hacker News seems to be.

I'm pretty new here, but I enjoy reading about the future of programming languages alongside posts about Marcus Aurelius' writings. It just seems that it's mostly content about being the best you that you can be and having a broad range of knowledge.

Do you think the recent "Inappropriate comments at Pycon 2013 called out" thread contributed to that mixed bag in a good way?

I worded that carefully. I don't want to draw out sides on that thread topic, just whether it contributed to an educational atmosphere and meaningful discussion on HN.

I think it's a discussion that needs to take place. I am not sure HN is the place to do it, but where else?

It's a necessary discussion insofar as it was major news and will have a non-trivial effect on how gender-identity is interpreted and argued within the community.

Agreed, I love the diversity which is why I continue reading HN.

I like a good balance of topics, keeps things interesting (and more importantly, continues to get me interested in other subjects / topics).

I feel like the role of diversity is better served by a place like reddit.

You can help by flagging submissions on (mostly US) politics that are off-topic. I rarely flag, but do in such cases as those threads suck a lot of oxygen out of this place.

I do as well. This place is definitely changing recently (past two years), but it's not all bad. The political stuff is the worst of it.

The politics on HN is gender/diversity politics, and IMHO HN has been somewhat riven by it. Witness the heated discussion on this very thread.

To me all politics is off-topic - I'm interested in the technology discussions.