Comments, although disappointingly I always seem to get a big karma spike for throwaway one-liners, and what I consider my more contributing/interesting comments tend to be ignored. I know I'm not the only one, but it can be frustrating.
This is generally what happens as the audience grows. See cable news for instance.
Snarky comments routinely provide me 5 or more votes if properly timed. I haven't tried to exploit it.
I try to comment on only things in the newest section. Inevitably, someone has already made a similar comment on front page items. This strategy and sporadic commenting keep my karma comfortably low.
When I feel I absolutely must post a snarky one liner, I try to add on an actual decent comment at the end of it. It gets the joke out there, but hopefully doesn't add to the noise.
then maybe, just don't do the one-liners?
But then everything I say would be ignored:)
Trust me, you wouldn't. The one-liners just add noise for us people who are looking for good content! :)