Yes they do. Some people can get to front page at will. Now, whether that's good or not is a different discussion, but people trust their judgement so they get more weight.

I don't usually pay any attention to who submitted something, and one of the biggest issues I see with HN is the imbalance in points between someone who submits an article and someone who has valuable input in the discussion.

Half of my karma is from 2 submissions but I think a good comment is much more valuable that being the first person to submit a link.

> Do people pay attention to who submits items?

Would we be having this conversation if they didn't?

I think he primarily referred to other readers, this topic was posted by a submitter.