4 ms·

Intriguing idea. Maybe I'll do something like that.

by pg 17y ago

scott_s 17y ago
Keep in mind that this might have adverse affects on the community. I upvote/downvote sparingly, but after over a year of reading people's comments, I feel like I "know" certain people because I recognize trends in what they say.
sachinag 17y ago
The issue is that respondents may start addressing their comments to nerf such a change. Instead of: "You're forgetting something", you may get: "tdavis, you're forgetting something."
- pyre 17y ago
  True, but that person could get appropriately down-voted for that 'work around' if enough people dislike it.
  - apotheon 17y ago
    What -- so now we aren't allowed to refer to people by name? I think that's a terrible idea, especially when I'm talking to foo about something bar said.
hughprime 17y ago
I don't think that the upside (creating a marginally fairer karma system) would outweigh the downside (making the whole site a whole lot less readable).
- diN0bot 17y ago
  what about this: make up random names for people. these names should be consistent for the entire discussion on this page across page views, but different for a different discussion. i've never been able to remember who someone is or what they do. the benefit of trusting A more on a security issue because A has proven himself to be a master of security issues...well, that's a tough problem. i'd rather see anonymous names, no karma and a security certificate. karma is useful to draw n00bs into the system--i found it pretty darn cool when i started out. now i don't care at all. after 200 points they should disappear: now you've earned yourself a real soul.
  - apotheon 17y ago
    Heh. Maybe, instead of anonymizing names, pg should just ensure that once you pass 200 points your point value is replaced with the word "ensouled". That way, we can still tell who's who, newbies still get drawn in and invested by the karma system, and people with 20,000 karma don't get automatically upvoted by impressionable people just because they have high karma scores.
adrianwaj 17y ago
Just wondering if you see the same HN as everyone else? Are there tools for power users you'd suggest? Have you ever had a negative karma score placed on a comment?
- apotheon 17y ago
  Well . . . the word "Maybe" in pg's comment is the only reason I didn't downvote it.
- kirubakaran 17y ago
  Have you ever had a negative karma score placed on a comment? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=190451 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=190451 ( my memory is a gift and a curse ;) )
  - adrianwaj 17y ago
    How did you find it? Well done. PG's my hero, but how would you escape the negative sign below for a Google search so it works: "-9 points by pg" site:news.ycombinator.com I haven't had much success.
    - kirubakaran 17y ago
      I searched in searchyc.com for pg blue as I remembered the comment that got down-voted. Also check this out : http://searchyc.com/user/pg?only=comments&sort=by_points_r http://searchyc.com/user/pg?only=comments&sort=by_points... I didn't use this method earlier though.
      - adrianwaj 17y ago
        Yes, just saw it, thx. How bizarre, for an item about Arc it was very taxing on Paul. Perhaps it just shows how no one really gets it, and why bother explaining if you do: those who know don't tell.
        17y ago
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
skmurphy 17y ago
My $.02: I find that it's much more useful to know who made the comment (at least in the sense of a handle that allows me to easily read their other comments and submissions) than their karma score or the karma score for the comment. I find the leaderboard the least useful and would rather do away with it than karma for individual comments.
wheels 17y ago
That would remove some of the utility of the site for me. Some people consistently say smarter things than the mean, so it's more worth my time to read what they write than most of the content on the site. (I subscribe to some comment RSS feeds from searchyc.) If all domain names were removed from the blogosphere it would enable a more fair distribution of readership, but it wouldn't make for a better reading experience. It would also mean the regulars would have to qualify things more often. Basically I care more about utility than fairness and I think reputation is a concept with significant utility.
lsc 17y ago
just my $0.02, but personally I really, really like having my name attached to my comments. In fact, if I could get it to say "Luke S. Crawford" <lsc@prgmr.com> that would be even better. (but I know most people wouldn't like that) So -1 anything that would obscure my name more than a handle with a link to my profile does.

Intriguing idea. Maybe I'll do something like that.

by pg 17y ago

Intriguing idea. Maybe I'll do something like that.

Keep in mind that this might have adverse affects on the community. I upvote/downvote sparingly, but after over a year of reading people's comments, I feel like I "know" certain people because I recognize trends in what they say.

sachinag 17y ago

The issue is that respondents may start addressing their comments to nerf such a change. Instead of: "You're forgetting something", you may get: "tdavis, you're forgetting something."

pyre 17y ago
True, but that person could get appropriately down-voted for that 'work around' if enough people dislike it.
- apotheon 17y ago
  What -- so now we aren't allowed to refer to people by name? I think that's a terrible idea, especially when I'm talking to foo about something bar said.

hughprime 17y ago

I don't think that the upside (creating a marginally fairer karma system) would outweigh the downside (making the whole site a whole lot less readable).

diN0bot 17y ago
what about this: make up random names for people. these names should be consistent for the entire discussion on this page across page views, but different for a different discussion. i've never been able to remember who someone is or what they do. the benefit of trusting A more on a security issue because A has proven himself to be a master of security issues...well, that's a tough problem. i'd rather see anonymous names, no karma and a security certificate. karma is useful to draw n00bs into the system--i found it pretty darn cool when i started out. now i don't care at all. after 200 points they should disappear: now you've earned yourself a real soul.
- apotheon 17y ago
  Heh. Maybe, instead of anonymizing names, pg should just ensure that once you pass 200 points your point value is replaced with the word "ensouled". That way, we can still tell who's who, newbies still get drawn in and invested by the karma system, and people with 20,000 karma don't get automatically upvoted by impressionable people just because they have high karma scores.

adrianwaj 17y ago

Just wondering if you see the same HN as everyone else? Are there tools for power users you'd suggest? Have you ever had a negative karma score placed on a comment?

apotheon 17y ago
Well . . . the word "Maybe" in pg's comment is the only reason I didn't downvote it.
kirubakaran 17y ago
Have you ever had a negative karma score placed on a comment? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=190451 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=190451 ( my memory is a gift and a curse ;) )
- adrianwaj 17y ago
  How did you find it? Well done. PG's my hero, but how would you escape the negative sign below for a Google search so it works: "-9 points by pg" site:news.ycombinator.com I haven't had much success.
  - kirubakaran 17y ago
    I searched in searchyc.com for pg blue as I remembered the comment that got down-voted. Also check this out : http://searchyc.com/user/pg?only=comments&sort=by_points_r http://searchyc.com/user/pg?only=comments&sort=by_points... I didn't use this method earlier though.
    - adrianwaj 17y ago
      Yes, just saw it, thx. How bizarre, for an item about Arc it was very taxing on Paul. Perhaps it just shows how no one really gets it, and why bother explaining if you do: those who know don't tell.
      - 17y ago

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

skmurphy 17y ago

My $.02: I find that it's much more useful to know who made the comment (at least in the sense of a handle that allows me to easily read their other comments and submissions) than their karma score or the karma score for the comment. I find the leaderboard the least useful and would rather do away with it than karma for individual comments.

wheels 17y ago

That would remove some of the utility of the site for me. Some people consistently say smarter things than the mean, so it's more worth my time to read what they write than most of the content on the site. (I subscribe to some comment RSS feeds from searchyc.) If all domain names were removed from the blogosphere it would enable a more fair distribution of readership, but it wouldn't make for a better reading experience. It would also mean the regulars would have to qualify things more often. Basically I care more about utility than fairness and I think reputation is a concept with significant utility.

lsc 17y ago

just my $0.02, but personally I really, really like having my name attached to my comments. In fact, if I could get it to say "Luke S. Crawford" <lsc@prgmr.com> that would be even better. (but I know most people wouldn't like that) So -1 anything that would obscure my name more than a handle with a link to my profile does.