4 ms·

I always get one karma point per comment point above 1. What's the basis for the 0.5 factor?

by aston 20y ago

nurall 20y ago
Simple answer - Submissions are more important than Comments for News.YC ;-). If comments were given more weight tending towards that of submissions, people would have trouble moving onto the next submission, in the process of accumulating karma. I am sure YC wants people to add value through new/novel submissions.
- immad 20y ago
  I think aston means that he thinks he gets a full point for his comment, Not what the justification of the 0.5 factor is. I wasn't sure on this, but I didn't think it was straight 1 point so the 0.5 might be right, I am sure other people have more evidence.
  - nurall 20y ago
    Sorry about that aston and immad. Even I believe its not 0.5 deterministically, but I think it averages to 0.5. The system appears far more adaptive/dynamic than a completely deterministic model as suggested by the formula. But again, its a model. My friend, up-voted me once each for two separate comments, but my Karma remained the same. As a matter of fact, I observed something similar with the submissions as well. This could imply the following - 1. Karma calculation is not interrupt driven, but its timeout based (I probably hadn't waited long enough!) OR 2. The weight for the comments (/submissions?) could be a function of user Karma, with an average of 0.5 (I probably did wait long enough!) OR 3. My friend's up-voting was suspicious (Highly doubt it!!) My bet is on 1 and/or 3.
    - aston 20y ago
      How'd your friend up vote the same comment twice? As far as I know, the system only counts one vote per user per comment or post.
      - nurall 20y ago
        Errata - My friend up-voted me on two different comments, once each. My score should have increased by 1 Karma point going by the 0.5 weight for comments, but it did not, immediately.
jward 20y ago
I've noticed this as well. I start at 1 and anything higher adds one. The karma formula just seems to be very simple. Add one for every up vote and subtract one for every down vote you get from other people on anything.

I always get one karma point per comment point above 1. What's the basis for the 0.5 factor?

by aston 20y ago

I always get one karma point per comment point above 1. What's the basis for the 0.5 factor?

Simple answer - Submissions are more important than Comments for News.YC ;-). If comments were given more weight tending towards that of submissions, people would have trouble moving onto the next submission, in the process of accumulating karma. I am sure YC wants people to add value through new/novel submissions.

immad 20y ago
I think aston means that he thinks he gets a full point for his comment, Not what the justification of the 0.5 factor is. I wasn't sure on this, but I didn't think it was straight 1 point so the 0.5 might be right, I am sure other people have more evidence.
- nurall 20y ago
  Sorry about that aston and immad. Even I believe its not 0.5 deterministically, but I think it averages to 0.5. The system appears far more adaptive/dynamic than a completely deterministic model as suggested by the formula. But again, its a model. My friend, up-voted me once each for two separate comments, but my Karma remained the same. As a matter of fact, I observed something similar with the submissions as well. This could imply the following - 1. Karma calculation is not interrupt driven, but its timeout based (I probably hadn't waited long enough!) OR 2. The weight for the comments (/submissions?) could be a function of user Karma, with an average of 0.5 (I probably did wait long enough!) OR 3. My friend's up-voting was suspicious (Highly doubt it!!) My bet is on 1 and/or 3.
  - aston 20y ago
    How'd your friend up vote the same comment twice? As far as I know, the system only counts one vote per user per comment or post.
    - nurall 20y ago
      Errata - My friend up-voted me on two different comments, once each. My score should have increased by 1 Karma point going by the 0.5 weight for comments, but it did not, immediately.

jward 20y ago

I've noticed this as well. I start at 1 and anything higher adds one. The karma formula just seems to be very simple. Add one for every up vote and subtract one for every down vote you get from other people on anything.