What you say is true for comments, I agree that every contribution should be judged on its own merit. For filtering/ordering submissions though, such as on the

What you say is true for comments, I agree that every contribution should be judged on its own merit. For filtering/ordering submissions though, such as on the reco-page on reddit, a web of trust is quite natural. Since we have limited time, we can't possibly read everything, so we might as well prefer content from people we trust. Same thing in real life, when you read the next book of your favorite author, instead of one by a complete stranger. If the scores are distributed, the authority figures aren't necessarily the same for everyone.