For whatever it's worth, there seems to be little correlation between a comment's immediate karma (say, within an hour or so posting) and its ultimate karma. I'

For whatever it's worth, there seems to be little correlation between a comment's immediate karma (say, within an hour or so posting) and its ultimate karma. I've had plenty of very highly rated comments that were at -1 or -2 15 minutes after I posted them. My best guess is that people are browsing New and not bothering to check context before downvoting. Once the comment falls off the first few pages of New, more thoughtful readers in the thread itself take over.