I think I might have missed this in the FAW but I did look 3 times already. Does it help in anyway to have a lot of points overall for things like, getting HN front page or anything else? Thanks
Once you reach a certain level (around 300 points I think) you will be able to downvote comments and the comments are arranged so that those with higher points overall (not just for specific responses) rank higher than others. I believe this is so that a long term contributor to HN can have their opinion heard ahead of some fresher faces.
I always kind of wondered if your points on HN were taken into consideration if you apply to YC. If nothing else I think it reveals a lot about you, like what interests you (links you post), how knowledgable you are (providing help), and if you know how to communicate to better achieve your goals (asking for help).<p>...but I might be wrong :)
PG has said on several occasions that when someone applies to YC, he does look through their comments on HN, but I haven't heard anything about total points having any weight.
I think the point unlocks go in this order: flag comments/articles, downvote comments, change topcolor (the orange bar at the top).<p>The points required to downvote (and maybe for the others) goes up over time.