A slight but important difference is that Reddit idolizes semianonymous users, while the most-respected users on Hacker News have fully-transparent identities.
The identity of the idol, and the lack thereof, can change the perception of this funny super-commenter completely.
Source: I gained internet notoriety through my comments on TechCrunch under my real name. As far as I know, I don't have any sycophantic zealots.
That's true - and as for Reddit, it seems to make people focus more on the content. Accounts like shitty_watercolour and awildsketchappeared aren't really popular because of who they are, rather what they produce.
The identity of the idol, and the lack thereof, can change the perception of this funny super-commenter completely.
Source: I gained internet notoriety through my comments on TechCrunch under my real name. As far as I know, I don't have any sycophantic zealots.