I think that it would lead to HN becoming quite insular and elitist. More pragmatically, I think discussion would suffer if we judged new entrants solely by w

I think that it would lead to HN becoming quite insular and elitist. More pragmatically, I think discussion would suffer if we judged new entrants solely by whether or not 'good' contributors vetted them. This might inadvertently weed out people with differing viewpoints.