I've been lurking on lobsters for some time now, I love it as a secondary layer to checking HN. I use laarc in a similar manner as well. Never seeked out an invite to post on it though.
Having tiers of popularity to the content you consume is important to me. It allows you to take in smaller and more meaningful input from people you are at least familiar with their names (and possibly personalities,) and allows you to inject your viewpoint on something just the same.
