4 ms·

Fuck average karma. Who even looks at it (besides the owner of the karma)? I post a relatively high volume of comments on articles that get little visibility.

by brk 14y ago

Fuck average karma. Who even looks at it (besides the owner of the karma)? I post a relatively high volume of comments on articles that get little visibility. Sometimes I answer an Ask HN type question with what ( I thik) is a good/useful answer and don't even get an up vote from the asker (but I have gotten 'thanks!' replies). Oh well, I come here to discover new things and try and return knowledge I've contributed over the years. Karma has zero inherent value to me. The day I can spend it at Starbucks, the gas station, a sushi bar, or any place else I'll start go give a fuck.

FrojoS 14y ago
I guess some people hope, that high Karma will improve their chances when they apply to Y Combinator. Actually, I vaguely remember a post or essay from pg, which suggested that one of the reasons to create HN was to assess potentially good founders based on the content they post on HN. I'm not saying YC is actually skimming applications based on user Karma. But even if they don't, people might believe it.
- brk 14y ago
  Here's what (relatively) high karma netted me on my YC application: a personalized rejection email (and brief ensuing conversation) from pg. High karma does not make up for an application that does not resonate with the reviewers.
- matwood 14y ago
  Actually, I vaguely remember a post or essay from pg, which suggested that one of the reasons to create HN was to assess potentially good founders based on the content they post on HN. Hahaha. PG should be doing the inverse. If someone is spending enough time on HN to have a really high karma then they aren't spending that time building something.
peterwwillis 14y ago
Fuck karma in general. I can't think of a practical use for publishing the karma number. Real karma ripples throughout the world on it's own, you don't need a number to record it. There's far too much ego worship in communities like HN, where nerds are often too concerned with it to begin with. The whole 'honoring the most popular community members' is the same. It's horrifically vain and just gives otherwise normal people's commentary much greater weight than it needs. Good comments will stand on their own.
- pedalpete 14y ago
  Though you are correct in theory, I think the karma points are beneficial in driving the community. I didn't know what it was before I signed up, but now I check it out every now and then (though you can tell by my score, I don't obsess over it). Though maybe having a user know their overall score is a detriment. It doesn't matter how much Karma is accumulated overtime, but consistently benefiting the community is valuable. Maybe we shouldn't be shown an overall karma score, but just how your karma has changed over the last month. While keeping th e overall score hidden from users. Just an idea.
  - chrislomax 14y ago
    I think levels would be better, taking the idea of a veteran to the next level. But I think the levels should be based on time and "karma". So you start off green, if you stopped on the site 5 years and never added anything you would be green but the same would be said if you were on the site for 5 minutes and got 1000 karma in a day, you would then move up a level or something but didn't get the "veteran" accolade. You then wouldn't be able to receive such higher levels without being a member for a certain period as well. Maybe the overall levels relate to how much you can help moderate the site? I know karma doesn't matter but I do find myself looking when I come onto the site and equally I don't post as often as I should because I find idiots down voting something for the sake of "happy clicking".
    - peterwwillis 14y ago
      Life is too short to worry about votes and karma. If it really matters to you, just timing posting the right stories will net you hundreds or thousands of karma at a time. Then you can burn a couple karma expressing what you wanted to say even if it's unpopular. But I don't understand the need for identifying who is a veteran or not. People who use the site will know who is a veteran and who isn't. In addition, someone without much of any karma will be treated probably poorer than many other users, or their ideas dismissed. Just because someone is new to the community doesn't make their comment less valuable. The site will take care of the sorting/displaying of comments. There's no need for me to see the numbers that make the site run. It just ends up giving some people a false sense of importance. Keep the karma, but hide it, and maybe people will stop changing what they say just because of who they're talking to.
MartinCron 14y ago
Yeah, I like to see my absolute Karma score tick upwards (it's how I know that I'm adding value to the community) but I don't stress out about saying something that might not be a huge hit to my average karma.
larrys 14y ago
"don't even get an up vote from the asker" I'm actually amazed at the amount of time that happens actually. I've had the same experience. And I tend to upvote people who respond to my comments as long as they don't trash what I've said.

by brk 14y ago

FrojoS 14y ago

I guess some people hope, that high Karma will improve their chances when they apply to Y Combinator. Actually, I vaguely remember a post or essay from pg, which suggested that one of the reasons to create HN was to assess potentially good founders based on the content they post on HN. I'm not saying YC is actually skimming applications based on user Karma. But even if they don't, people might believe it.

brk 14y ago
Here's what (relatively) high karma netted me on my YC application: a personalized rejection email (and brief ensuing conversation) from pg. High karma does not make up for an application that does not resonate with the reviewers.
matwood 14y ago
Actually, I vaguely remember a post or essay from pg, which suggested that one of the reasons to create HN was to assess potentially good founders based on the content they post on HN. Hahaha. PG should be doing the inverse. If someone is spending enough time on HN to have a really high karma then they aren't spending that time building something.

peterwwillis 14y ago

Fuck karma in general. I can't think of a practical use for publishing the karma number. Real karma ripples throughout the world on it's own, you don't need a number to record it. There's far too much ego worship in communities like HN, where nerds are often too concerned with it to begin with. The whole 'honoring the most popular community members' is the same. It's horrifically vain and just gives otherwise normal people's commentary much greater weight than it needs. Good comments will stand on their own.

pedalpete 14y ago
Though you are correct in theory, I think the karma points are beneficial in driving the community. I didn't know what it was before I signed up, but now I check it out every now and then (though you can tell by my score, I don't obsess over it). Though maybe having a user know their overall score is a detriment. It doesn't matter how much Karma is accumulated overtime, but consistently benefiting the community is valuable. Maybe we shouldn't be shown an overall karma score, but just how your karma has changed over the last month. While keeping th e overall score hidden from users. Just an idea.
- chrislomax 14y ago
  I think levels would be better, taking the idea of a veteran to the next level. But I think the levels should be based on time and "karma". So you start off green, if you stopped on the site 5 years and never added anything you would be green but the same would be said if you were on the site for 5 minutes and got 1000 karma in a day, you would then move up a level or something but didn't get the "veteran" accolade. You then wouldn't be able to receive such higher levels without being a member for a certain period as well. Maybe the overall levels relate to how much you can help moderate the site? I know karma doesn't matter but I do find myself looking when I come onto the site and equally I don't post as often as I should because I find idiots down voting something for the sake of "happy clicking".
  - peterwwillis 14y ago
    Life is too short to worry about votes and karma. If it really matters to you, just timing posting the right stories will net you hundreds or thousands of karma at a time. Then you can burn a couple karma expressing what you wanted to say even if it's unpopular. But I don't understand the need for identifying who is a veteran or not. People who use the site will know who is a veteran and who isn't. In addition, someone without much of any karma will be treated probably poorer than many other users, or their ideas dismissed. Just because someone is new to the community doesn't make their comment less valuable. The site will take care of the sorting/displaying of comments. There's no need for me to see the numbers that make the site run. It just ends up giving some people a false sense of importance. Keep the karma, but hide it, and maybe people will stop changing what they say just because of who they're talking to.

MartinCron 14y ago

Yeah, I like to see my absolute Karma score tick upwards (it's how I know that I'm adding value to the community) but I don't stress out about saying something that might not be a huge hit to my average karma.

larrys 14y ago

"don't even get an up vote from the asker" I'm actually amazed at the amount of time that happens actually. I've had the same experience. And I tend to upvote people who respond to my comments as long as they don't trash what I've said.