I've noticed the same thing. There's really just a handful of News.YCers I recognize that have posted consistently since before the last round. Incidentally, its these folks who's opinions I value the most (for the most part).
Absolutely - I count you among those folks. Nostrademons too.
Oddly enough, I find that I don't pay too much attention to who writes what. The size and color of the usernames, combined with the fact that they're rarely capitalized, means that I usually take note of names only as an afterthought.