I agree. Winning and losing karma makes spending time on Less Wrong entertaining, and is useful feedback, but a sense of community and belonging is what makes it rewarding. I don't think people care about losing karma here and there (or even a huge chunk all at once) if they feel their presence here is generally welcome.

Part of the problem is that we are probably -- admittedly -- somewhat ambivalent about whether each new person is welcome when they make a comment or post that is voted down. The newcomers feel tested, and are being tested, and it's not clear how long they have until they haven't passed.

To this end, I suggest formalizing a norm where a newcomer never fails but has a special 'prentice' status until they have something like 200 karma. Being a prentice would mean that you receive karma feedback as usual but any non-prentices should consider themselves mentors and make sure that in the case of any negative karma feedback, there is also constructive comment feedback.

In my first 200 points, there were a handful of people that I felt were especially helpful in making me feel welcome (through their patience and constructive feedback), and this made a big difference.