I find that true technical commentary is often less appreciated than superficial technical statements.

Using only myself as an example:

* I write a comment about databases and data science that comprises hard-won insights borne out of years of experience and mistakes -> {0, 1, 2} upvotes.

* I write a throwaway comment about IBM PC-DOS -> many more upvotes (>10).

I'm not complaining. I think HN merely conforms to the broader pattern of the world.

It does have one downside: very often, soundbite comments that are naive or wrong get upvoted a lot. [0]

[0] http://danluu.com/hn-comments/

Anecdotally I find the largest factors affecting number of upvotes are time of day and how recently the thread has been on the front page.

Comments higher up on the page also get more upvotes. Not everyone reads all of the comments and you get this effect.

dat true!

I don't find it easy personally, my most upvoted comment has 14 points, most are under 4 points.

But then, I don't comment often and I don't care about being able to downvote, so I think I'll survive.

It takes a while in the beginning, then you learn what works and what doesn't, which thankfully aligns fairly well with the community values as I see them. Here's a distillation of how I see them:

* Comment when you have something to contribute. The contribution can be small, even just adding your own experience. A "me too" comment will likely get downvoted. A "Me too. I often experience/feel this when..." will likely be left neutral or upvoted, depending on topic and content.

* Assume the other party in a discussion or argument is acting in good faith. Try to look for alternate interpretations for offensive or upsetting comments, and ask, if at all ambiguous. Even if it's clear the opinion is at odds with your own, don't condemn someone outright, ask why (and try to do so in a way that doesn't sound like you're setting them up).

* Tangents are okay. Responding to a particular comment but addressing the conversation is okay. Try to make it obvious when you are not addressing the person you replied to specifically. Context matters, especially for those that see the reply, and it's easy for them to assume it's supposed to be meant as a rebuttal to them when they've been seeing lots of rebuttals.

Sure, but most of the time I don't feel like I have things relevant to add to the discussion, I'm more of the lurker type.

I just wanted to point out that in my case, getting points was not that easy. But I actually don't care about it, so everything is fine for me. :)

I believe the top comment in an high voted thread can get 100+ points but winning the thread is extremely difficult. In almost 6y I only was able to make it 3 or 4 times. The quality is really high and it's amazing how there is always somebody in a better position to comment it.

Comments are worth a point, so as long as you're not posting comments that are regularly downvoted, just participating will get you there.

No, the default point doesn't count towards your karma.

It's still true that just participating will get you there. I'm pretty sure my median comment has 2 points.

Aaaaaaaand now this comment is my most upvoted comment. Obviously.

...or by submitting some awesome content once in a while.