I think there is a pronounced fall-off in the "gamification" interest too as a user progresses in karma. IIRC the last perk for high karma is downvoting comment

I think there is a pronounced fall-off in the "gamification" interest too as a user progresses in karma. IIRC the last perk for high karma is downvoting comments at 501- no more fun perks to spend your Internet points on beyond that. I also don't get the sense that people habitually check the karma of people they are reading or replying to anyway, so it doesn't in and of itself grant much in the way of sway or gravitas in the community. That's much more about being notable or recognizable (other than the obvious "post good comments and stories"). And sure, it does help the sense of "being part of the community" to get to 500 where you are trusted to downvote, but let's be real- it only takes a few good story submissions to get you there if you want to get there fast. I only have 3 submissions that aren't Show HN or my own stuff, and 1 of those is 194 points (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38626454 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38626454). And I only posted that story because I was hoping Matthew would elaborate on his position here on HN (as well as wanting to hear what HN thought of his take), since he is a well known HN user.