Your last point is less impactful recently, as opposed to years ago. Years ago one needed to making numerous substantive contributions to earn downvoting power

Your last point is less impactful recently, as opposed to years ago. Years ago one needed to making numerous substantive contributions to earn downvoting power. Recently, a critical mass of users has been rewarding participants in reddit style humor threads and snarky comments, allowing new users to accumulate upvotes without substance, and without experiencing the more measured culture of traditional HN.