I'll admit that I do that sometimes -- Patrick's blog over the years has been full of gems that are well written, easy to read, and make me feel like I could put into action were I braver / had better ideas / insert-excuse-for-not-starting-something-here. They were some of the best things I read when I first learned about HN, so I tend to value them more highly.
Because HN saves the list of things you've upvoted, I will at times upvote things that I know Patrick has written because I know it will be a good thing to read when I later get a chance.