[dang]

Since that post seems to include more information, we've merged the comments into https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45703926.

[collinmanderson]

Would it make sense to merge the points/upvotes too?

[dang]

For now, we generally leave those to randomness/fate on the assumption that they're not that important.

Longer-term, it is on the list to make a karma-sharing system, to solve the problem of multiple submitters contributing the same story to HN.