You're talking about the goals of the platform hosting us for free.
I'm talking about our personal motivation, regardless of platform. And I'm trying to say that when the motivation is to 'create content' the result is worthless, and I think you're doing yourself a disservice accepting that.
We are both creating content which hacker news serves up to people who read comments. We’re not the only ones this conversation is seen by.
Hacker news is, among other things, a platform for YC to find talent and advertise its startups. People come here both for the posts and comments.
The content we create and post here have clear commercial purpose even though we as the creators don’t necessarily benefit or care.
Welcome to the internet.