Comment by RiderOfGiraffes

From memory, a few weeks ago it was upped to 500, I think. I'll see if I can find the item.

ADDED IN EDIT:

From http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1853529

  > pg
  > I've often thought of it. The reason I had downvotes
  > originally was to deter people from saying things that
  > were mean or stupid. But maybe the right way to deal
  > with that is a separate mechanism from voting, as it
  > is with stories. Maybe the right combo for comments is
  > an uparrow, plus a flag link, and encourage users to
  > flag comments that are mean or stupid.
  >
  > I'll think about the real solution more after I'm done
  > reading applications, but I'll increase the downvote
  > threshold to 500 now.