That is absolutely not what I wrote, nor what I belief. You are shoehorning me into a position, and I resent that.

I do belief that racial and gender issues are not relevant when discussing the pros and cons of cryptocurrency or the benefits of two-factor authentication. That to me goes beyond a shared value, it ought to be common sense.

HN communicates via text — no avatars, no non-sense. All that matters is whether or not you can formulate a post in English that adds to the topic. Aside from English proficiency, that is about as inclusive as you can get. There could be a dog behind the keyboard on the other side for all I care — as long as he/she is civil and provides some interesting insight into the topic at hand.

Having an interest in software and its related topics is not the exclusive domain of the 'privileged white male', regardless of the demographic slant towards men in the software industry (of any colour really, depends a lot on the country posters hail from and the local demographic make up of the population).