With points I might have to read the odd 'popular cheap shot' when finding gems.
Without, I have to read everything, including these 'popular cheap shots'. And as many have stated (but i can't really quantify-- because i can't see how many people are voting them up!) there isn't the time or the inclination to read everyone's posts.
But you are showing that with points shown you have two tiers of users:
-Those who read every post & up/down-vote each one on its merit.
-Those who scan the page quickly & read the comments with the highest votes.
The problems is, how do you tell which kind of user is voting when comes to ranking a comment?
I would argue that a vote from someone who just scans the top rated comments is less useful than a vote from someone who has read the whole thread. The chance of gems being left languishing in a corner decreases with many eyes hunting for good content.
By being the second type of user you are essentially out-sourcing your opinion of a comment to the crowd and assuming everyone else is not doing the same thing.
All of us are using imperfect heuristics to select good content to read. Just the fact that we're reading HN instead of some other source right now is an imperfect heuristic. There's just too much potential reading for anyone to read everything equally.
That is a good point & I don't know what the perfect solution would look like, however I do think it is understandable that PG has decided to adjust the system with a view to improving comment quality.
Without, I have to read everything, including these 'popular cheap shots'. And as many have stated (but i can't really quantify-- because i can't see how many people are voting them up!) there isn't the time or the inclination to read everyone's posts.