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I feel like that doesn't explain the amount of effort people put into earning karma on Slashdot. It started as a way to highlight good posts and condemn bad on

by dkarl 9y ago

I feel like that doesn't explain the amount of effort people put into earning karma on Slashdot. It started as a way to highlight good posts and condemn bad ones to well-earned obscurity, but people worked hard for that karma. Why? Was it because it represented something to them? Because people have a drive to maximize any score publicly connected to an identity they, er, identify with? Addiction to internet points seems to have happened as soon as internet points were invented, no mobile device required. Although I'm sure there's an exception whose "failure" might be informative.

ModernMech 9y ago
Look at /. as more of community. As with any community, they have their own ideas on what confers status in the group. Something as silly as a low ID number there gives you great weight in the community. Karma gives you the ability to judge others, and also to act as against the group (I have a lot of karma, so I feel I have the standing to say something unpopular and get attacked for it).
- ddingus 9y ago
  This is why people accumulate it. Agency, fuck you points. I have a low uid, and a ton of karma. One comment, and I get mod points. I rarely participate these days, but when I do, it's always noticed. These dynamics were discussed when the mod system and voting were being put together back in the day.
rtkwe 9y ago
At a first pass there's a pretty simple explanation to this. It's an outwardly displayed and quantified of group social acceptance and value. High karma posts are pushed forward and get a lot of attention and high karma users are seen as valuable members because they've brought quality content/commentary to the communities. I think most points that work are like that, they're an expression of positive attention and praise which we know lights up all sorts of low level reward centers in the brain.
scardine 9y ago
You can ask the same about stackoverflow reputation.

by dkarl 9y ago

ModernMech 9y ago

Look at /. as more of community. As with any community, they have their own ideas on what confers status in the group. Something as silly as a low ID number there gives you great weight in the community. Karma gives you the ability to judge others, and also to act as against the group (I have a lot of karma, so I feel I have the standing to say something unpopular and get attacked for it).

ddingus 9y ago
This is why people accumulate it. Agency, fuck you points. I have a low uid, and a ton of karma. One comment, and I get mod points. I rarely participate these days, but when I do, it's always noticed. These dynamics were discussed when the mod system and voting were being put together back in the day.

rtkwe 9y ago

At a first pass there's a pretty simple explanation to this. It's an outwardly displayed and quantified of group social acceptance and value. High karma posts are pushed forward and get a lot of attention and high karma users are seen as valuable members because they've brought quality content/commentary to the communities. I think most points that work are like that, they're an expression of positive attention and praise which we know lights up all sorts of low level reward centers in the brain.

scardine 9y ago

You can ask the same about stackoverflow reputation.