I vibe coded hn10k earlier this year (with options for 1k and 100k). It’s more as you remember it. Significantly better than now actually.

If you lift comment threads that have participation from the karma cutoff you chose you still get some discoverability.

I was going to publish it but .. it took like three hours and that was nine months ago. But I recommend making one yourself if modern hn is getting you down. Ultimately I gave myself a time out which also worked :)