I m not being dismissive, just realistic. If you want an example of this crowd spilling into the "broader web" , look no further than youtube comments. People who have nothing interesting to add to the web had better stay inside silos.
Facebook is in no way a "better web". I don't use it and I m not missing anything.
I also don't agree that "ease makes it better". The early days of the web were mindbogglingly interesting because it attracted an inquisitive crowd who found ways to make it work (and invented things, if needed). Even today, interesting crowds often flock to low-UX corners of the web (case in point HN).
I don't disagree with you. I too also want the web to continue to be interesting. I also find myself clicking on "Instance Articles" and "AMP" pages a lot, because the experience sometimes is just so much better.
You and I can probably live without Facebook, but for many, that's literally the only way they connect with friends online. And that's important, because the average user will become what defines the web. Just like trump is the president now, both are things I don't personally like, but that's just the people speaking.
In a way, we (hn users) are also uninteresting -- and the Facebook content are kind of interesting to other people as well. People are different, and we just have different objective functions. In that sense, HN itself is also a "silo". We don't want to be living in silos.
Facebook is in no way a "better web". I don't use it and I m not missing anything.
I also don't agree that "ease makes it better". The early days of the web were mindbogglingly interesting because it attracted an inquisitive crowd who found ways to make it work (and invented things, if needed). Even today, interesting crowds often flock to low-UX corners of the web (case in point HN).