Does poster karma boost the post in any way?

I don't believe HN boosts their algo but I think people recognize posters like celebs. I recognize tosh, simonw, etc.

Also it's an easy way to farm karma. The pelican guy posted a pelican, let's upvote it? It's at least a bit of psychosis / mass effect in this.

For what it's worth, I like the pelicans but just making an observation