I have 80628 karma.  That and £4 will get you a coffee in London.<p><i>Edit</i><p>Less cynically, it reassures you that you are &quot;in sync&quot; with the HN culture.  It is correlated with the idea that what you post and&#x2F;or what you say is found interesting and&#x2F;or useful to those who hang out here.  There are things I post that I think are important, but which get little or no attention.  There are other things I post that get lots of upvotes but which I think are less important.  That&#x27;s the way it goes - we have smart-phones to look at pictures of cats, and argue with strangers.<p>However, as the article you reference says, mostly it says that you&#x27;ve been here a long time, and posted many times.  In short, it&#x27;s cumulative.<p>And now I have 80629.