Don't know about anyone else, but it was pretty refreshing for me. Being new to HN, I wasn't all that familiar with the UI, and not having scores made me focus

Don't know about anyone else, but it was pretty refreshing for me. Being new to HN, I wasn't all that familiar with the UI, and not having scores made me focus on the comments a lot more. With the points being on the upper left corner, you can't read the comment without knowing how well it did so far with other people. It's a lot like movie reviews. It may be a good indicator, and often times they are right, but it still influences you to a degree.