When browsing through http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=pg I notice that his comments won't make sense without knowing that it is pg who is making them.
Most are clarifications as Hacker News Maintainer and Furry Investor. (or Furry Capitalist?)
Knee jerk vote-ups I am guilty of are for: edw519, mixmax, rms, pg and nostrademons. But I'm very sure I'd have voted those comments up even if I didn't know the commenter's id. ID gives more context... it is like I hear it in a particular voice.