There are separate sections for those things, called territories. I own the econ territory and co-own sports. I agree that discoverability from the front page could be improved. If someone spends more on posting fees than they receive in zaps, it means they aren't adding value to the readers. That they cease posting is sort of the point of a market economy. Extra pressure to consider what value you're adding is another feature that people sometimes see as a bug. That said, most of us do want people to have some sort of ration of free posts, like one per day.

Oh I didn't know that, that is very interesting. I see it now, on the drop down. How are these territories made? What if someone came along and wanted to make their own 'terrirtory'? Not sure I agree with you. Someone posting there about an unpopular topic will likely be spending more on fees than receiving because there is no audience for their topic. The same person / posts may be very popular in a niche interest forum. Or perhaps it would even depend on their politics, a socialist poster wouldn't fare well there I imagine (just as an obvious example, but you get the idea). It having no value to the existing audience isn't a great mechanism to encourage wider adoption / diversity of topics and views. Do we have any idea of the stats on stacker news user numbers/growth?