We considered this pretty seriously, and it might be required some day, but we think we'll be able to incrementally move toward a more highly available, better performing architecture without a continuity break.
The HN code base is as much an experiment in Arc as it is a social news site. Also the feature set is surprisingly different (although I wish some of the features were here like comment collapsing and async comment submission).
Maybe it would be too much work to rewrite the specific logic that prevents HN 'manipulation' for reddit? Although I suppose much of the behavior and target audience is similar...
