(I'm the Lobsters admin.)
I think "better" is too reductive a framing for comparing things as broad and deep as online communities. There's no single dimension to judge quality on, and it's largely a matter of personal taste. I appreciate the praise but this post feels like a missed opportunity for a really valuable conversation about how design features have shaped these two sites (to say nothing of the dozens of others they draw inspiration from). In short: https://lobste.rs/s/bxuqzy/why_lobste_rs_is_better_than_hack...
Couple previous takes when we've been mentioned here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21453180 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21947299 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20892064