It's a pity that there is no description of what it is supposed to be used for.
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But there are two applications: the first is breaking in to a system under some very obscure set of circumstances that you are very unlikely to encounter in the real world. The second is to bump up your karma on HN.
Is there any way to use HN karma? Like, can I sell my account on some shady exchange like people sell big twitter accounts? And if I can, what's the going rate for internet points these days? Asking for an unscrupulous friend.
Nothing other than vanity AFAIK.
It's actually a bit of a scam because karma accumulates and never expires. I've been on the leaderboard for a long time, not because I'm making particularly valuable contributions (I only post a few times a week) but just because I've been on HN since it launched.