Metafilter does that, and I think that helps people continue a discussion that they are interested in, regardless of its effect on "reputation". HN does a similar thing with the "threads" link, but it only helps for conversations the user is active in (to encourage involvement?).
My thinking on late (and hence low-exposure) contributions is more along the lines of weighting. If 10 people read a comment and 5 upvote it, it should be rewarded similarly to a comment with 100 reads and 50 upvotes.
My thinking on late (and hence low-exposure) contributions is more along the lines of weighting. If 10 people read a comment and 5 upvote it, it should be rewarded similarly to a comment with 100 reads and 50 upvotes.