Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't buy into this whole pure non-contextual ideal, as though the only possible result of attaching a name and a reputation to a comment is an ad hominem argument or fan-worshiping. When you're making an argument or counterpoint, you would do well to divorce your argument from the external characteristics of whoever you're responding to. However, when you are just reading through conversations for your own benefit…
Philosophically, I largely agree with you. The problem is raised by the fact that karma is largely a measure for "how long have you been on HN?" rather than anything that a sane person would like to base their opinion on. This is most clearly evident in your example with tptacek; could you tell me how you would go about determining his aptitude in the security field by looking at his karma score?
Re: HN Greasemonkey script: Show user reputation(karma and age) in comments
#21Oh I absolutely agree. Karma is definitely little more than an odometer and not useful for reputation purposes at all outside of an individual comment, and even then it doesn't say a whole lot.