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I think the more interesting question is: would less people be doing that, if it weren't incentivized through karma points? If yes, how big would the impact be?
by hooby 5y ago
I think the more interesting question is: would less people be doing that, if it weren't incentivized through karma points? If yes, how big would the impact be?
- Mandatum 5y agoGiven my focus on points, probably less so. Although I think we need some signal to understand what content the community places value in.
- hooby 5y agoI'm not arguing for removing karma points - just pointing out, that the way they work,they do (somewhat) incentivize such behavior. Obviously we DO need a signal. Hackernews probably would not work (or at least not work as well), if there was no way to separate the wheat from the chaff. But whatever system is put in place, there will always be people trying to game the system for their own gain, hurting the system in the process. Between the barriers/mitigations needed to keep the system from breaking entirely, and the amount of signal manipulation that can not be avoided - the whole thing will of course work not as well than it could if everyone were honest. And that's without even considering what all the effort and expenses spent on those mitigations could have been used on otherwise.
- ComradePhil 5y agoI don't see much value in accumulation of karma points in the user account. It can be used to decide what makes it to the front page or how comments get ordered... but beyond that, why should it have any more value? It just incentivises karma hoarders to lie.