As long as we're talking about redoing this, let me suggest letting authors see the names of upvoters (and only upvoters).
Quora had this and it did a fair bit to create positive community feelings for me. It also let people signal agreement/support without having to create a comment to do so, which I would find handy.
I actually wouldn't like this, it would make me afraid to upvote unpopular opinions I agree with. As is hacker News falls into the same trap as Reddit where there's a bit of a hive mind effect.
Wouldn't that lead to you seeing a pattern in who upvotes you which would make you more likely to upvote their submissions or comments, slowly guiding you towards bubble-forming?
And if someone doesn't upvote your "let's not eat babies" comment, do you go after them for being pro-baby-eating?
Quora had this and it did a fair bit to create positive community feelings for me. It also let people signal agreement/support without having to create a comment to do so, which I would find handy.