This is an interesting observation, it might not even be possible for the vast majority of users, by definition, to be outliers enough to move the needle apprec

This is an interesting observation, it might not even be possible for the vast majority of users, by definition, to be outliers enough to move the needle appreciably. i.e. readers will only care to remember the most notable/unique/etc... fraction of comments. And everything else will just meld together into one big mental blob. Maybe that is why there's been a flight to smaller online communities?, even 'Joe Average' has realistic prospects of writing something memorable if there's only a few hundred folks to compare against.