Maybe we should negatively weight "awarded karma" by the height a comment is on the page.
A 100 point comment that is two or three screens down and buried in a nest of mediocre comments is almost certainly better than a 100 point top level comment at the top of a discussion. The later is a much more difficult and impressive feat.
Comments would have the same point values, but the value that is added to the user's karma score would be weighted. Getting lots of points would still make you feel good about your comment, but it would neutralize more ...strategic karma farming.
Few people will agree with me and they're never going to implement it, but I think comments shouldn't carry karma. It just encourages too much pettiness.
A 100 point comment that is two or three screens down and buried in a nest of mediocre comments is almost certainly better than a 100 point top level comment at the top of a discussion. The later is a much more difficult and impressive feat.
Comments would have the same point values, but the value that is added to the user's karma score would be weighted. Getting lots of points would still make you feel good about your comment, but it would neutralize more ...strategic karma farming.