I don't think hackers see value in fake awards. I for one don't see the point, except for the desire to compete to see who's got more badges on their sash. Until these badges can buy me a sandwich, pay my rent, etc, I'll leave them for the kiddies to collect.

I would rather judge and be judged on the merit of a comment, not by who is making it.

Hack News is a place I frequent to come across interesting subject matter. It is not a place to accrue accolades based on posted material. There are plenty of other communities to visit if you want to make a name for yourself.

Rather than putting extra layers of complexity on to the site, I feel that if a plugin/add-on to the browser was offered that would provide this functionality gained enough momentum then the discussion of implementing it on to the site would be worth further discussion.

I think the biggest draw for a lot of us is the pure simplicity in the site as it is.