I think you're right about the reasons for the decline. Most people have learned enough about Covid now to be able to see how good their health systems reacted (in my country, the response was outstanding). They're vaccinated and don't care about Covid any longer. These people participate less in threads about Covid now, so the percentage of fringe positions will increase.
However, I want to point out that HN was really good in the beginning. I knew about the pandemic earlier than any of my colleagues and gave some advice about cancelling events that sounded ominous then but turned out to be excellent. I even was able to predict the case numbers reliably during the exponential growth phase in early 2020, using my own calculations. All of that thanks to HN. Early discussions from January to April 2020 on HN were quite insightful, as were later discussions of possible medications and therapies by some of the rich hypochondriacs on HN.
I agree that HN is now useless for Covid-related discussions and has mostly turned into unscientific antivax garbage. But it was very useful during the beginning of the pandemic.
However, I want to point out that HN was really good in the beginning. I knew about the pandemic earlier than any of my colleagues and gave some advice about cancelling events that sounded ominous then but turned out to be excellent. I even was able to predict the case numbers reliably during the exponential growth phase in early 2020, using my own calculations. All of that thanks to HN. Early discussions from January to April 2020 on HN were quite insightful, as were later discussions of possible medications and therapies by some of the rich hypochondriacs on HN.
I agree that HN is now useless for Covid-related discussions and has mostly turned into unscientific antivax garbage. But it was very useful during the beginning of the pandemic.