Hacker News has profiles in which people can and some do put information which can be used for an off-site connection; it doesn't have an easy channel for user-to-user harassment, but that just makes it easier to engage publicly without worrying about that.

You make a good point. It's quite odd that I often feel more connection to users here despite the lack of 'friend' features.

Nonetheless I do. I suspect it's due to the relatively high average comment quality. I'm looking for a strong taste of belonging in a digital community. That nibble from HN evokes the same tantalizing possibility as rare discord servers and subreddits once did. None satisfy.