3 ms·

I'm pretty sure the karma system has deterred me from making comments that really have no place at the forum a couple of times. I'm not a karma whore, I don't

by tinco 5y ago

I'm pretty sure the karma system has deterred me from making comments that really have no place at the forum a couple of times. I'm not a karma whore, I don't post specifically to get karma. I just like contributing and engaging, but I also like to see my score go up slowly. I bet I'm not the only one that's in the middle of the road like that. How many overly emotional, rash and knee jerk comments has it saved us all? And conversely, I think it's trained me to give just a little bit more thought to most comments, and put in a little more effort. And that effect smeared over everyone on HN is what makes it great.

floatingatoll 5y ago
I believe, unproven, that if you could see when your comments earned many replies, turned gray from downvoted, or got flagged by people, then That would be enough information to allow voting to continue to provide a social guiderail without the exact integers of everything mattering. I would also like to see karma show rate of change instead of an integer, so that I can just see if there are replies, gray’d, or flagged posts/comments. Instead I optimize for only reading the last two digits of my karma. It encourages visiting too often just to assure myself that there’s no reason to visit.
- Sebb767 5y ago
  > I believe, unproven, that if you could see when your comments earned many replies, turned gray from downvoted, or got flagged by people, then That would be enough information to allow voting to continue to provide a social guiderail without the exact integers of everything mattering. Upvotes and replies to a comment do not necessarily indicate the same thing. A controversial comment can spark discussion, but an idea can do so as well; only the latter would receive many upvotes. A good and long explanation, for example, might be very valuable, but not receive many replies and only upvotes, while a boring comment will receive neither. I think HN not showing the score of comments already does a solid job of preventing trains; you yourself seeing the score just allows you to know whether people valued your contribution.
  - floatingatoll 5y ago
    Nope, I can’t reliably depend on the score to indicate value. HN readers frequently post and upvote offtopic and inflammatory comments, leading to pages of discussions that have high integers but no value. Removing the display of positive integers from comments ought to curb these behaviors considerably.
throwaway2037 5y ago
Yes, I feel very much the same. I never saw it written so succinctly.

by tinco 5y ago

floatingatoll 5y ago

I believe, unproven, that if you could see when your comments earned many replies, turned gray from downvoted, or got flagged by people, then That would be enough information to allow voting to continue to provide a social guiderail without the exact integers of everything mattering. I would also like to see karma show rate of change instead of an integer, so that I can just see if there are replies, gray’d, or flagged posts/comments. Instead I optimize for only reading the last two digits of my karma. It encourages visiting too often just to assure myself that there’s no reason to visit.

Sebb767 5y ago
> I believe, unproven, that if you could see when your comments earned many replies, turned gray from downvoted, or got flagged by people, then That would be enough information to allow voting to continue to provide a social guiderail without the exact integers of everything mattering. Upvotes and replies to a comment do not necessarily indicate the same thing. A controversial comment can spark discussion, but an idea can do so as well; only the latter would receive many upvotes. A good and long explanation, for example, might be very valuable, but not receive many replies and only upvotes, while a boring comment will receive neither. I think HN not showing the score of comments already does a solid job of preventing trains; you yourself seeing the score just allows you to know whether people valued your contribution.
- floatingatoll 5y ago
  Nope, I can’t reliably depend on the score to indicate value. HN readers frequently post and upvote offtopic and inflammatory comments, leading to pages of discussions that have high integers but no value. Removing the display of positive integers from comments ought to curb these behaviors considerably.

throwaway2037 5y ago

Yes, I feel very much the same. I never saw it written so succinctly.