I have mixed feelings about karma. It's nice to have filters that bring (mostly) better comments to the top, but I think it results in more silenced voices than

I have mixed feelings about karma. It's nice to have filters that bring (mostly) better comments to the top, but I think it results in more silenced voices than it does posts-for-karma's-sake. It's validating to get a few upvotes, but more than that it's disheartening to spend time on a comment and recieve no feedback whatsoever. I'm an outgoing person, but I find myself shying away from commenting on HN for that reason. Admittedly, I don't usually have some brilliant insight, but it does make it harder to feel like part of the community.