Yes lower barrier to entry topics are expected to increase the noise, and also the number of participants, which makes patterns easier to see, right? Possibly lower barrier to entry also correlates with lower expertise too. I'm not sure this is unique to HN at all, and haven't noticed it being any different or worse here than elsewhere. I think we have lots of words and phrases and platitudes to categorize and comment on how people behave, one that comes to mind immediately is bike shedding, or the Law of Triviality.