Hacker News was created by Paul Graham. You may also want to check out some of his essays at paulgraham.com. Here is one which gives some background on why he created Hacker News, and his thoughts on it as of Feb. 2009.
I think HN still very much reflects the mind of Paul Graham and his range of interests. Obviously he's an expert in startups, but he's also one of the best practical psychologists I've read. And I think this is a site about the mindset that produces programmers, entrepreneurs and people who like to do difficult, mentally-challenging projects and be delighted by the challenge.
http://paulgraham.com/hackernews.html