[krakensden]

There are two problems with what you say. First, a large number of posts with a small number of upvotes is still valued more by HN than a small number of well-respected comments. Second, moderation systems tend to be inflationary, which means that the point value of a given comment has more to do with how many people read the thread than anything else.

Slashdot's point cap is the obvious solution, but even there comments tend to lean heavily towards +5 on well read threads.

[cojadate]

I don't think they are necessarily problems.

Re: first problem: I think a large number of fairly good comments probably IS a more valuable contribution than a small number of very good comments.

The second problem is more, er, problematic, but you could argue that good comments are popular articles deserve more karma, since these are comments on topics which people are really interested in – i.e. valuable insights on hot topics benefit more people than valuable insights on obscure topics, and are therefore more valuable contributions.