Thanks for the insight cryptoctopus.
I never considered the strength of my comments being a way that I can leverage my minnow weight. I always commented on articles I they caught my eye while scrolling through and it engaged me somehow. Purposefully scrolling through the big gun's articles only would be a change.
As I read your article I considered what you were saying and thought of a possible negative drawback to focusing on only responses to high powered writers. I know you are not saying to only focus on that but here is my fear.
I only have so much time to look through and participate on here.
If I begin to focus my comments on high powered blogs that will consume my time on here. It means that I will not have the time/inspiration/writing capacity to comment on the underpowered blogs. I see this as a negative thing because a lot of great writers who are just starting out are definitely not here for the quick riches. They make their 3 cents a blog and move on to writing the next great piece for us. A lot of them say that what drives them is the responses and interaction their posts create. If I (and presumably others) drop that interaction as we focus on the high paying responses we run the risk of losing those "young" writers we are starting to attract.
Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of being rewarded for my comments and your advice will change where I spend some of my focus. I would just encourage your readers to remember the little guys as well. This goes along the lines of people who save their votes for high paying articles and don't "waste" their votes on low value yet well written content.
We have to balance things so that the entire ocean rises.
What are your thoughts on this as I have inconvenienced enough electrons in this long winded reply.