A healthy online community is one that I can learn from, where I can find insightful discussions. That's what attracts me the most to HN. I've learned a ton since discovering it, some things had a direct positive impact on my life.

This doesn't come without a cost : HN is highly addictive, like every other social media website.

This is not necessarily the criteria I use to determine 'health' in offline communities. There is a "human" side that is more important offline.

What I miss the most about HN : the ability to have discussions around political and controversial topics. I can't understand why a community like HN isn't able to have thoughtful, well reasoned discussions around political and controcersial issues. When those don't get flagged or hidden by moderators, I enjoy them a lot.