5 ms·

I see a lot wrong with this. At HN we are not initially tied to our username. I would keep making new accounts/submissions until I hit a gold mine, something

by ryanto 16y ago

I see a lot wrong with this. At HN we are not initially tied to our username. I would keep making new accounts/submissions until I hit a gold mine, something that generated a ton of karma. This would make my initial HIndex very high, and give me 2nd, 3rd, and 4th posts a much larger edge. It would also encourage high risk initial posting. Since every new account's first post is going to be a calculated gamble to gain karma, that first post should be something highly controversial, opinionated, shocking, risky, etc. When it fails or gets downvoted, we just open a new account and try again. I do not think indifferent comments are bad, in fact I think they are good. They help us realize that its ok to have a non-opinion on something that is seemingly coming off as 'the greatest thing ever'. Of course these comments never get upvoted because they don't mix things up or stir the pot, but they help add clarity and balance to the conversation. Also my biggest pet peve with HN is often times really good thought out comments go overlooked. Maybe because they are on too high of a level or do not present themselves well. This of course is a current problem with the karma system that the HIndex does not resolve.

angusgr 16y ago
new accounts/submissions until I hit a gold mine, something that generated a ton of karma. This would make my initial HIndex very high, and give me 2nd, 3rd, and 4th posts a much larger edge. I think this is exactly what the HIndex is designed to avoid. One jackpot high karma value only gives you HIndex "1". Two gives you HIndex "2", and so on. The HIndex rewards a broad pattern where nearly every comment gets consistently well upvoted, rather than lots of ordinary comments and the occasional massive jackpot. It's closer to the median than the mean. Also my biggest pet peve with HN is often times really good thought out comments go overlooked I agree. I think that, in general, karma should be viewed as generalised encouragement for the HN community to stay helpful and informative, rather than as tightly coupled to how helpful and informative each individual comment is.

by ryanto 16y ago

angusgr 16y ago

new accounts/submissions until I hit a gold mine, something that generated a ton of karma. This would make my initial HIndex very high, and give me 2nd, 3rd, and 4th posts a much larger edge. I think this is exactly what the HIndex is designed to avoid. One jackpot high karma value only gives you HIndex "1". Two gives you HIndex "2", and so on. The HIndex rewards a broad pattern where nearly every comment gets consistently well upvoted, rather than lots of ordinary comments and the occasional massive jackpot. It's closer to the median than the mean. Also my biggest pet peve with HN is often times really good thought out comments go overlooked I agree. I think that, in general, karma should be viewed as generalised encouragement for the HN community to stay helpful and informative, rather than as tightly coupled to how helpful and informative each individual comment is.