Paul I have a 200_000+ word counter with maybe 4-5x ish less karma than you. So I know my karma/word counter would come out even lower.
That's really not why I created it. A bit of it is if you might feel competent that you have written so many words in a single place. You know how to put in the efforts so you can have a blog post and create it there and create absolute gems too :D
And also Hackernews is pretty chill community. This is probably the reason why some of us are able to write so much in the first place. Personally, Hackernews has improved my grammar & gave me confidence (sort of) with interesting people to follow/learn from. I do feel like its one of the most fine places to spend time on (atleast on the internet) usually/for the most part.
I really love HN :D
Have a nice day!