Think of the leaderboard as an odometer, it basically logs how much time you spend on HN.<p>If I had to put a number on it I'd say 1 karma point today equates anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes of work on HN.<p>If you were to express that in money, given the kind of expertise that walks around here anybody on the leaderboard has spent upwards of several thousand $ worth of their time, which gives you an idea of how much they get back out of it.