> If more karma means more power, there is an incentive to post to get karma instead of posting to help the community. One could argue that in the current comm

> If more karma means more power, there is an incentive to post to get karma instead of posting to help the community. One could argue that in the current community, posting to get karma and posting to help the community are one and the same. Reddit's downfall came more because of a change in the composition of the community than because of karma incentives. At the same time, you're right about the problems of people trying to get karma for karma's sake. I think the best way to reduce this problem is to make it harder to gain karma than just by posting popular links. > Ultimately, 99% of the users are just like you and I and do not want to see news.yc turn into another digg/reddit. Why not take advantage of that, instead of treating it like a technical problem when it is really a community issue. You're right. It is a community issue. But as soon as the "hordes of 14-year-olds" invade, the 99% you cite will drop. The current technical solution doesn't prevent that from happening. We're trying to find one that does.