I think it punishes commenting on niche hacker news postings that don't make it to the front page (i.e. far enough up on the list). If only few people read a p

I think it punishes commenting on niche hacker news postings that don't make it to the front page (i.e. far enough up on the list). If only few people read a posting, only few people will upvote it. So even if the comment would be valuable for a high traffic posting, it doesn't really get any points. Something that I really like about Hacker News, is that you can find lots of stuff on the second or third page that doesn't appeal to too many people, but is still interesting. Now, if you comment there a lot, it will decrease your karma. IMO these comments can be more valuable to those interested than it can be appreciated using points (esp. for Ask HN/YC posts).