Dumb question, but is it difficult to setup a temperature and humidity controlled box or room where you could stow away the plants at night? A possibly dumber question, why do hydroponics always seem to involve indoor/UV lighting? Why are there no container-sized setups that you can place outdoors, but the climate and sun-light is controlled, and it's all powered by solar energy?
(sorry for all the dumb questions, i don't know anything about this topic)
Hydroponics and artificial lighting increase density (no/less volume wasted by dirt, and can stack plant beds on top of each other). UV lighting is more power-efficient artificial lighting, so it's the next logical step.
And if you grow plants indoor somewhat densely, they'll leave your apartment in constant semi-darkness if you rely on sunlight. I have this issue with my basil and cherry tomatoes, for example.
That's a long way of agreeing with you that there is positive in the duration bias of HackerNews and other sites.
Of course anything can be hijacked, and metrics proverbially tend towards becoming targets (and hence a dumb arms race), but the general concept of the value of curation is sound.
That's an archive, and it has its own uses for researchers, especially historians.