[jdfreefly]

Agreed. I lurk...a lot.

I rarely open my mouth. There was a short period where I looked to snipe with some witty comment, but I quickly out grew that.

I've made one post and I am rarely finding things pertinent to the tribe that haven't already been posted, so instead I look for new interesting content here and only open my mouth when I think I have something valuable to add to an existing discussion.

I think something like the proposed solution would leave a user like me out in the cold. I am by no means saying this objection should kill the idea, you gotta break a few eggs, and if I happen to be one of them, so be it. It should be given some thought though.

[PakG1]

I'm in the same boat. I've noticed something interesting though. Back when I was commenting a lot more, I cared a lot more about my karma points. Now that I'm more of a lurker, I realize I don't keep track of my karma at all, nor do I really care about it anymore. So maybe actually, I don't care either way... but people like you and me do exist in terms of signal to comment volume ratio (at least, I hope my ratio's high :D).

[sapphirecat]

Likewise with lurking-until-valuable. If karma were converted to an incentive for daily engagement, that would be a strong disincentive for me to even log in. It changes the relationship from a friendly "it's okay if you contribute, however often you feel like" to "be here and be loud, or be screwed".

(If I were changing HN, I'd love an option to replace the karma score with a reply inbox, so I don't have to poll my threads page. I'm trying to break myself of my post-and-run habits, of my general fear of defending my ideas, and of my overvaluation of karma.)