Before I start, I need to say, I am very new to HN.
So after a few days of using HN, I thought my karma was off to a good start. But then after commenting on an article, I got lots of downvotes. That was a 30 percent blow to my karma.
My comment said nothing uncivilized that's against HN's terms. So why am I getting downvotes for saying something different? Will I ever get more than 501 karma!?!
Reading your comment history, as a general recommendation try to avoid oneliners. Add more information, or explain your ideas more thoughtfully. Sometimes oneliners are too similar to "I agree" or "I disagree" that has too few information. Try to find a link that support your position.
I wouldn't worry about it. HN karma is effectively useless, and you can get downvoted for all sorts of silly reasons... ranging from "person was actually trying to upvote you but misclicked" to "you said something that goes against the prevailing collective wisdom and people downvoted you to express disagreement" to "you actually did something that's against the site terms", and everything in between.<p>Your karma is going to fluctuate over time... don't take it personally.
It takes a while to adjust yourself to the collective narrative on this platform. I think for the most part, comments are for discussion and encouraging alternating views. If you write, "this is nice", there's not a lot of substance that others can extract from it. So, with that said, focus on threads where you have an interesting perspective or thought to add. Much easier to get your 500 karma points that way.