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Reset karma for everyone. Your top karma people abuse their authority and you don't even notice. If a post is flagged, show who flagged it and for how long.

twblalock 3y ago
What authority? It doesn't take much karma to vote or flag. Well under 100 points IIRC. Past that point, having more karma has no effect on what you can do on the site.
- dang 3y ago
  Correct. Flagging takes 30 (well, 31) and downvoting takes 500 (well, 501). After 250 you get to set your topcolor. I think that's about it for now.
eru 3y ago
> Your top karma people abuse their authority and you don't even notice. What authority do 'top karma people' have? I have 25,772 karma, for what it's worth, and you have 2. I don't think there's anything I can do here on HN that you can't do? (Hah, and I just noticed that my account is two days older than dang's!)
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- pests 3y ago
  You can downvote and flag, they can’t.
  - eru 3y ago
    Well, the limits for that are 500 and 30 karma. But you technically have a point as 2718i314 (the user I replied to) doesn't have enough karma to reach those thresholds.
    - 2718i314 3y ago
      That is snide of you. Does that deserve a downvote?
      - eru 3y ago
        If you don't like the community here, why do you stick around?
dang 3y ago
High karma users don't gain any special authority or privilege. There are a few places in the code that consider karma but IIRC it's never more than 500 (the downvote threshold). It's actually on my list to add more goodies for higher levels - maybe something like linkifying URLs in user profiles - but it would not have anything to do with authority on HN itself. We want the best comments and the best arguments to 'win', not skew things in insiders' favor.
- 2718i314 3y ago
  What makes you think karma is anything other than a popularity contest rather than the best argument? I've had comments downvoted to negative land without anyone commenting on my comment. If someone can't be bothered to state what they find wrong with a comment, then they shouldn't downvote. Such downvotes are basically trying to silence the speaker instead of addressing what they are saying.
  - dang 3y ago
    I don't think that.
    - 2718i314 3y ago
      You said "We want the best comments and the best arguments to 'win', not skew things in insiders' favor." But only those that get to a certain threshold apparently.
      - IanCal 3y ago
        Passing a threshold doesn't do anything for your own comments.
      - dang 3y ago
        "We want" means it's a goal to aspire to, not that it's already the case. Not sure what you mean about thresholds.
  - hiq 3y ago
onion2k 3y ago
FWIW I'm pretty sure I've flagged fewer than 100 comments in my decade or so on HN. I strongly suspect people with a lot of karma are much more likely to post a comment in response or maybe downvote something than flagging it. Also, a lot of the high karma accounts got there by posting links, or just by grinding their way up by posting a lot of comments, or because they're 'famous' for something. Karma doesn't represent any sort of unusual power or authority. If you think it does you're reading too much into it.
- eru 3y ago
  I've vouched for more comments than I ever flagged.

twblalock 3y ago

What authority? It doesn't take much karma to vote or flag. Well under 100 points IIRC. Past that point, having more karma has no effect on what you can do on the site.

dang 3y ago
Correct. Flagging takes 30 (well, 31) and downvoting takes 500 (well, 501). After 250 you get to set your topcolor. I think that's about it for now.

eru 3y ago

> Your top karma people abuse their authority and you don't even notice. What authority do 'top karma people' have? I have 25,772 karma, for what it's worth, and you have 2. I don't think there's anything I can do here on HN that you can't do? (Hah, and I just noticed that my account is two days older than dang's!)

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
pests 3y ago
You can downvote and flag, they can’t.
- eru 3y ago
  Well, the limits for that are 500 and 30 karma. But you technically have a point as 2718i314 (the user I replied to) doesn't have enough karma to reach those thresholds.
  - 2718i314 3y ago
    That is snide of you. Does that deserve a downvote?
    - eru 3y ago
      If you don't like the community here, why do you stick around?

dang 3y ago

High karma users don't gain any special authority or privilege. There are a few places in the code that consider karma but IIRC it's never more than 500 (the downvote threshold). It's actually on my list to add more goodies for higher levels - maybe something like linkifying URLs in user profiles - but it would not have anything to do with authority on HN itself. We want the best comments and the best arguments to 'win', not skew things in insiders' favor.

2718i314 3y ago
What makes you think karma is anything other than a popularity contest rather than the best argument? I've had comments downvoted to negative land without anyone commenting on my comment. If someone can't be bothered to state what they find wrong with a comment, then they shouldn't downvote. Such downvotes are basically trying to silence the speaker instead of addressing what they are saying.
- dang 3y ago
  I don't think that.
  - 2718i314 3y ago
    You said "We want the best comments and the best arguments to 'win', not skew things in insiders' favor." But only those that get to a certain threshold apparently.
    - IanCal 3y ago
      Passing a threshold doesn't do anything for your own comments.
    - dang 3y ago
      "We want" means it's a goal to aspire to, not that it's already the case. Not sure what you mean about thresholds.
- hiq 3y ago

onion2k 3y ago

FWIW I'm pretty sure I've flagged fewer than 100 comments in my decade or so on HN. I strongly suspect people with a lot of karma are much more likely to post a comment in response or maybe downvote something than flagging it. Also, a lot of the high karma accounts got there by posting links, or just by grinding their way up by posting a lot of comments, or because they're 'famous' for something. Karma doesn't represent any sort of unusual power or authority. If you think it does you're reading too much into it.

eru 3y ago
I've vouched for more comments than I ever flagged.