Why would established members "have to worry too much about how any particular post received" if HN didn't have karma?
You say that karma allows established members to "present unpopular points of view without too much penalty" but how does karma's existence (that is, the total of all up-votes on all comments and features gated by that score) not encourage just the opposite? Also, why should we privilege established members' dissent more than outsiders'? It seems like outsiders might even have a better vantage point.
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Why would established members "have to worry too much about how any particular post received" if HN didn't have karma?
You say that karma allows established members to "present unpopular points of view without too much penalty" but how does karma's existence (that is, the total of all up-votes on all comments and features gated by that score) not encourage just the opposite? Also, why should we privilege established members' dissent more than outsiders'? It seems like outsiders might even have a better vantage point.
Good points. But not everyone cares about maximizing karma. For most people, it just happens.
What karma does is allow people to find out that you aren't just a troll even if a particular comment is rated at -10.