I would say it's more a matter of habit, if you've used the original for such a long time you feel so familiar with it that any other way of using HN just seems "unnatural". I too have tried many alternatives, yet still coming back to the original ;)

Then you must not be using HN on a mobile device, because it is pretty much unusable.. that is, unless you like panning left and right incessantly as you read titles.

I think this "ugly design" as you say is resistant because it is a good design. It's functionnal and as such, I don't see any reason why it should change. A good design is a design we can read easily and use easily. For instance, I find Designer News far less easy to read than HN. HN's design might be ugly but it's convenient and it's all what matters. I agree that HN could have a better mobile experience. But the current design works particularly well on desktop.

>A good design is a design we can read easily and use easily

HN on mobile achives neither.

I agree, I was talking about the desktop version. I just wanted to say that the so-called "ugliness" of HN's design has nothing to do with the fact it's not convenient on mobile.