It seems to be valued much more by the community than those who manage it - this is a problem IMO as there's then an inbalance in the desire of the community to have an optimal tool and the desire of the management which appears to be more to provide something akin to an MVP.

Of course the community is diverse and my view is not necessarily representative of any type of majority.

why? the value of hn isn't the software, but the community.

That's the point. It's still a side project, but the community has enormous value.