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I fell in to the karma trap on reddit years ago and I ended up trying to conform to trends to maximize my karma. Its a really boring way to use a website and I

I fell in to the karma trap on reddit years ago and I ended up trying to conform to trends to maximize my karma. Its a really boring way to use a website and I found myself not saying a lot of things because I know they will be downvoted and I will lose my internet points. These days I don't give a shit about karma and I say whatever I want. I feel better about sharing opinions and I say what I really think.

kochikame 8y ago
I went through the exact same arc with Reddit. Once you reach a point where you have say 100,000+ karma, no downvote can ever really touch you anymore and you can start being honest again. If in addition to that you don't care about being banned from certain subs, well, congratulations, you're once a again a free man!
- baroffoos 8y ago
  My original account has been banned from hundreds of subs. The vast majority of them I had never even been on before and was bot banned because I commented on a competing sub or something. These days I just make up a random account every month.
  - kkarakk 8y ago
    some subs like offmychest ban anyone with a submission history to political subs like kotakuinaction as they perceive that someone with links to that subreddit cannot possibly contribute in a constructive manner. whether they are right or not is something only they as mods can perceive. it is actually against reddit rules to auto ban users like that but it is part of the increasing number of rarely enforced rules on reddit
gammateam 8y ago
HN will shadowban your account if you dont conform to popular opinion enough Aside from saying unpopular things, a net negative karma will also do it, which is a reflection of the same outcome Always check your post history from an incognito browser to see if others can see it
- baroffoos 8y ago
  90% of the stuff I post is upvoted but I don't care if one opinion I stand behind is downvoted. I also create a new account every month so that probably wont affect me.
  - lihaciudaniel 8y ago
    Isn't that against the rules, if not then I should do it, I just realised I was shadow banned 4 days ago and posted like an idiot
    - dang 8y ago
      You can also email us to get unbanned if you want to use the site as intended. We're happy to unban people who give us reason to believe that they'll follow the rules in the future. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
      - mikestew 8y ago
        How is one to email to get unbanned if one is not aware of the ban? That’s the whole POINT of the shadow ban that HN implemented. One little mistake (or two word post in OP’s case), and you’re shouting at the wall. So with due respect, Kafkaesque suggestions to contact the mods don’t help. What would help is getting rid of juvenile practices that are arguably ineffective, i. e., shadow bans.
        dang 8y ago
        We usually tell people that we've banned them. There are exceptions, mostly for spammers and serial trolls. https://hn.algolia.com/?query=we%27ve%20banned&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=false&page=0 https://hn.algolia.com/?query=we%27ve%20banned&sort=byDate&d...
  - dang 8y ago
    That's against the rules, so please don't: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Plenty of explanations about why: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=false&page=0&query=by:dang%20identity%20community https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...

kochikame 8y ago

I went through the exact same arc with Reddit. Once you reach a point where you have say 100,000+ karma, no downvote can ever really touch you anymore and you can start being honest again. If in addition to that you don't care about being banned from certain subs, well, congratulations, you're once a again a free man!

baroffoos 8y ago
My original account has been banned from hundreds of subs. The vast majority of them I had never even been on before and was bot banned because I commented on a competing sub or something. These days I just make up a random account every month.
- kkarakk 8y ago
  some subs like offmychest ban anyone with a submission history to political subs like kotakuinaction as they perceive that someone with links to that subreddit cannot possibly contribute in a constructive manner. whether they are right or not is something only they as mods can perceive. it is actually against reddit rules to auto ban users like that but it is part of the increasing number of rarely enforced rules on reddit

gammateam 8y ago

HN will shadowban your account if you dont conform to popular opinion enough Aside from saying unpopular things, a net negative karma will also do it, which is a reflection of the same outcome Always check your post history from an incognito browser to see if others can see it

baroffoos 8y ago
90% of the stuff I post is upvoted but I don't care if one opinion I stand behind is downvoted. I also create a new account every month so that probably wont affect me.
- lihaciudaniel 8y ago
  Isn't that against the rules, if not then I should do it, I just realised I was shadow banned 4 days ago and posted like an idiot
  - dang 8y ago
    You can also email us to get unbanned if you want to use the site as intended. We're happy to unban people who give us reason to believe that they'll follow the rules in the future. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - mikestew 8y ago
      How is one to email to get unbanned if one is not aware of the ban? That’s the whole POINT of the shadow ban that HN implemented. One little mistake (or two word post in OP’s case), and you’re shouting at the wall. So with due respect, Kafkaesque suggestions to contact the mods don’t help. What would help is getting rid of juvenile practices that are arguably ineffective, i. e., shadow bans.
      - dang 8y ago
        We usually tell people that we've banned them. There are exceptions, mostly for spammers and serial trolls. https://hn.algolia.com/?query=we%27ve%20banned&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=false&page=0 https://hn.algolia.com/?query=we%27ve%20banned&sort=byDate&d...
- dang 8y ago
  That's against the rules, so please don't: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Plenty of explanations about why: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=false&page=0&query=by:dang%20identity%20community https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...