it's pretty clear to me that HN is already an echo chamber in many respects - the consensus VC and corporate views are frequently those that get the most upvotes. requiring approval from 'old guard' users will only exacerbate this echo chamber property of HN and will, imo, likely degrade the quality of discussions more than it will help.
what has made HN and reddit so popular is the ability for anyone to participate, even if their comments get downvoted. by removing this open posting property, you are going to switch from a "burning man" culture to a "popular nightclub" culture. i would like to think that most of the developer types on HN recognize this as a bad thing.
i, for one, will not bother participating in discussions with the same frequency if i know that it requires approval from a karma overlord. i expect this chilling effect will be similar with many users of your site.
what has made HN and reddit so popular is the ability for anyone to participate, even if their comments get downvoted. by removing this open posting property, you are going to switch from a "burning man" culture to a "popular nightclub" culture. i would like to think that most of the developer types on HN recognize this as a bad thing.
i, for one, will not bother participating in discussions with the same frequency if i know that it requires approval from a karma overlord. i expect this chilling effect will be similar with many users of your site.