My point, whichb probably didn't come across clearly, was not that HN will go haywire if jacquesm leaves, you're right there are many more good commentors. And

My point, whichb probably didn't come across clearly, was not that HN will go haywire if jacquesm leaves, you're right there are many more good commentors. And the thing about karma is, lacking any other measure, I take karma ~ knowleagability. My points were (1) the good commenters have a big influence on us noobs, who learn a lot from them; 2) each society has ratios of different members, which when they hit a certain level, can bring about nonlinear changes in the society; I thought that if jacquesm's leave becomes an exodus, that can have a substantial effect on HN.