It is, actually. Comments by users with over 10k karma go live immediately.

tptacek · on March 22, 2014

Really? Are you sure about that decision? If it were my site, I'd decide the other way, if only because I'd worry about the interaction between high-karma commenters that can rapid-fire respond and normal users who have to wait.

pg · on March 22, 2014

I don't think people will have to wait so much they'll notice, but we'll see.

waterlesscloud · on March 22, 2014

Unfortunate, and I say that as a user with more than 10k karma. All comments should earn their endorsements on their own. High karma users are as capable of mean/stupid comments as anyone.

dfc · on March 22, 2014

It looks like the number of users with >10k karma ≈ 0.3%[^1] Do you have any estimate of number of users >5k and >1k?

[^1]: https://hn-karma-tracker.herokuapp.com/overall

lancewiggs · on March 22, 2014

I like the intent.

Given that karma is a function of votes from articles posted as well as net votes from comments made, is there a way to use the second but not the first for karma limits related to comments?