They are still right about EULAs. The terms and style of negotiation are "we do what we want and change things when we feel like it, and you check accept or stop using the software," and guess what that implies about using the software - they do what they want and change stuff when they feel like it and you accept it or stop using the software.
Contrast that to the open source pattern of making the license a header in the source files. You interact with the license by making common sense assumptions unless you need to know a detail, in which case you open a source file. Likewise you interact with the software by running on common assumptions unless you need to know a detail, in which case you open a source file.
I agree that, from the user perspective, I'd prefer if all of the software terms and EULAs I sign online were more favorable to me.
But I think it's a major overstatement to say you'll save yourself a headache by not agreeing to one-sided terms. They are literally everywhere. This very website we're posting on right includes these terms in its terms of service:
We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change or modify portions of these Terms of Use at any time.
YOU WILL ONLY BE PERMITTED TO PURSUE CLAIMS AGAINST Y COMBINATOR ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS, NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER
Y Combinator reserves the right to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Site (or any part thereof) with or without notice.
Y Combinator reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in Y Combinator’s sole discretion, violates this provision, including without limitation, removing the offending content from the Site, suspending or terminating the account of such violators and reporting you to the law enforcement authorities.
Indeed. This is the classic hole in the economics argument about market forces. You can easily set up a game theory model of the prisoner's dilemma with many players, in which the payoff from deviating is so small that "everyone colludes" becomes a stable equilibrium.
I’d be a little more worried about HN’s terms and conditions if I had to pay to use the site. There’s a world of difference between someone (or a company) who is providing a free service attempting to shield themselves from expensive litigation and generally insisting the free service be as hassle-free for them to run as possible and a a company charging me money for a product or service and putting these kinds of one-sided terms in a EULA.
Contrast that to the open source pattern of making the license a header in the source files. You interact with the license by making common sense assumptions unless you need to know a detail, in which case you open a source file. Likewise you interact with the software by running on common assumptions unless you need to know a detail, in which case you open a source file.