The name is supposed to be an easy predictor of quality. There is a cognitive cost to read all these comments, you know. That's why you look at current karma of the comment and see if you recognize the nickname.
Well, you may do that, but I rarely look at the handle until after I've read a comment, and only then if I feel like making a mental note of who it was because I really like what they said or something.
I don't feel like I know many people on HN mostly because it's more of a forum for debate than for making casual banter, the latter being more conducive to personal bonding (at least to me). On old BBS I used to know a lot of folks and met many of them, mostly because we spent the majority of our time exchanging witty banter and such.
There are only a few names I recognize here, mostly because they have a tendency to reply to my own comments with some regularity or always post really insightful stuff.
