>it works exactly like the startup culture which I think a big thing with Ycombinator? You don't create your startup for free; you pay money to get it running. You have to take a risk if you think your idea is worth it. No risk no payout (karma)
The risk/reward balance is not the same as an actual startup, though. I spend money on a startup because I think that I will get multiple times returned. When I post on HN, I do so because I found something interesting and want to share that with others, not because I want karma.
One of my favorite things about HN is finding some really niche/obscure post that I would never have come across. Many times those posts have low engagement because they are niche/obscure. Your proposal would be sure to eliminate many of these types of posts.
>Also, I'm running negative karma on this comment already because I posted what I thought was an interesting idea,
While very frustrating (I've had the same happen, low engagement in comments but lots of votes), I'm sure you posted the idea because you thought it would be helpful and/or to start a discussion about it, rather than posting it to increase your overall karma. So I think the startup comparison again falls a bit flat.
The risk/reward balance is not the same as an actual startup, though. I spend money on a startup because I think that I will get multiple times returned. When I post on HN, I do so because I found something interesting and want to share that with others, not because I want karma.
One of my favorite things about HN is finding some really niche/obscure post that I would never have come across. Many times those posts have low engagement because they are niche/obscure. Your proposal would be sure to eliminate many of these types of posts.
>Also, I'm running negative karma on this comment already because I posted what I thought was an interesting idea,
While very frustrating (I've had the same happen, low engagement in comments but lots of votes), I'm sure you posted the idea because you thought it would be helpful and/or to start a discussion about it, rather than posting it to increase your overall karma. So I think the startup comparison again falls a bit flat.