Hacker News is a site with a specific niche audience. If this is your only source of news I'm afraid you're getting a very one-side picture on many topics. A search engine on the other hand is supposed to present the information you seek from various sources, so you can read different opinions.

Maybe that’s your definition of a search engine. Mine is that it returns high quality results that achieve my goals.

If I’m asking a question, I want the answer to the question. If I’m researching a topic, I want a mix of simple and robust reliable information.

I use HN as a search engine for things tech/startup related. It’s curated and that works well.

I have no problem using a search engine that down-votes unreliable sources, yet still provides access to them if I search directly. That more correlates with helping me solve my problems than making me filter out spam, scams and propaganda.