This is a special post for quick takes by Thomas Kwa. Only they can create top-level comments. Comments here also appear on the Quick Takes page and All Posts page.
I don't know how to say this without sounding elitist, but my guess is that people who prolifically write LW comments and whose karma:(comments+posts) ratio is less than around 1.5:1 or maybe even 2:1 should be more selective in what they say. Around this range, it would be unwarranted for mods to rate-limit you, but perhaps the bottom 30% of content you produce is net negative considering the opportunity cost to readers.
Of course, one should not Goodhart for karma and Eliezer is not especially virtuous by having a 16:1 ratio, but 1.5:1 is a quite low ratio. You get 1.5 karma if 0.75 high-karma users or 1.5 low-karma users weakly upvote your comment. Considering that it takes barely a second to upvote and comments get tens of views, this is not a high bar for the average comment.
Caveats:
If your absolute number of comments + posts is low, the risk of making new users participate less outweighs the risk of comments clogging up the frontpage.
In some contexts votes might underestimate quality, like if your comment is on some esoteric topic that few people engage with.
Right at the top of that range, I agree, I probably comment too much for the amount I have to contribute. talking to people is fun though. a flipside to this: if you agree with Thomas, consider downvoting stuff that you didn't find to be worth the time, to offset participation-trophy level upvotes.
Don't fully disagree, but still inclined to not view non-upvoted-but-neither-downvoted things too harshly:
If I'm no exception, not upvote may often mean: 'Still enjoyed the quick thought-stimulation even if it seems ultimately not a particularly pertinent message'. One can always down vote, if one really feels its warranted.
Also: If one erratically reads LW, and hence comments on old posts: recipe for fewer upvotes afaik. So one'd have to adjust for this quite strongly.
4Ruby
This ratio is indeed something moderators pay attention to and influences decision about e.g. rate limits, though it's not directly triggering rate limits if I recall currently.