It's intriguing following the submission history of this item, and similarly interesting comparing the comments here with the comments three years ago. I idly wonder how much they reflect the change in the HN readership in that time.

We all know about sentiment analysis, I wonder if a similar sort of analysis could be done between this thread and one or both of the others. Find some sort of change, then look for similar changes in other items, discussed twice with a long gap.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47408 1971 days ago

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=492615 1426 days ago

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=951095 1157 days ago

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1539538 912 days ago, 68 comments

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2024576 761 days ago, 31 comments

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2531994 620 days ago

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3262788 425 days ago

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3615532 334 days ago