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Hacking the Hivemind: Predicting Comment Karma on Internet Forums (2014) [pdf]

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Re: Hacking the Hivemind: Predicting Comment Karma on Internet Forums (2014) [pdf]

#21

Post by psyc »

mrlyc wrote: post #3

That article reminds me of The Auditors in Terry Pratchett's "The Thief of Time" who try to analyse a painting by reducing it to its component molecules. There is no mention of tailoring comments and replies to the target audience. Once I adopted the mindset of a senior high school or college student and posted accordingly, I was able to increase my karma on Reddit from 1,000 per year to 1,000 per month. I still have…

Just ask everyone who offers an anecdote for citations, and tell everyone which named bias their point of view is.

Re: Hacking the Hivemind: Predicting Comment Karma on Internet Forums (2014) [pdf]

#22

Post by lacampbell »

stil wrote: post #20
lacampbell wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given how much content is generated on online forums, it is natural to have a mechanism to surface better/relevant content (different forums define relevance differently). My key objection is that what the majority of users think is "better/relevant" should have no influence on what I think is better and relevant. I can decide for myself, I don't need the 'hivemind'. What's wrong with just a "deleting memes" policy?

bcherny is saying that karma's primary function is content curation. sure, you might like a few downvoted submissions from time to time, but for most content karma scores will be saving you time sifting through a sea of content. removing content by hand requires an active and vigilant moderation team, user votes help mitigate that burden. Also, the power to 'delete' is most likely a slippery slope...

I see a lot of great content here greyed out. Including some of my own!

At the end of the day, I'm not happy to follow the collective judgment of other users.

Re: Hacking the Hivemind: Predicting Comment Karma on Internet Forums (2014) [pdf]

#24

Post by Tanegashima »

lacampbell wrote: post #15

I think karma mechanisms have had a net negative effect on online discussion. I don't want to have preconceived notion on how I should feel about a post - I want to make my own decisions. There's no escaping it now though, which is sad.

And I just upvoted your vote because I do agree... or it was because your post was top-voted?

Re: Hacking the Hivemind: Predicting Comment Karma on Internet Forums (2014) [pdf]

#25

Post by bike4beer »

lacampbell wrote: post #15

I think karma mechanisms have had a net negative effect on online discussion. I don't want to have preconceived notion on how I should feel about a post - I want to make my own decisions. There's no escaping it now though, which is sad.

Of Course, look no farther than this forum, where 'hive' like groups gang up on any individual they choose and down vote them, which is just censorship by 'gang'.

The Karma notion was just an easy ALGO at the time, but we know the AI ( machine learning ) algo's will even be worse at selective control of the topic and sentiment.

All that exists today is 'intellectual ghettos' where like minded people can 'circle jerk' ( excuse the explicit truth ), anyone outside the 'circle' simply moves on to a 'ghetto' where he/she are accepted.

The problem of course is everyone becomes isolated, and then just gets their favorite 'ideal' repeated, and that my dear friends here is not the definition of an education.

An open mind, an open heart, and to consider everybody's idea, and you choose what to read or not read, but simply shadow banning or sliding somebody because of non political-correct position's is inane.

Re: Hacking the Hivemind: Predicting Comment Karma on Internet Forums (2014) [pdf]

#26

Post by bike4beer »

blazespin wrote: post #14
mrlyc wrote: post #3

That article reminds me of The Auditors in Terry Pratchett's "The Thief of Time" who try to analyse a painting by reducing it to its component molecules. There is no mention of tailoring comments and replies to the target audience. Once I adopted the mindset of a senior high school or college student and posted accordingly, I was able to increase my karma on Reddit from 1,000 per year to 1,000 per month. I still have…

Does HN even respect karma? My guess is no and is just there as a red herring(not necessarily intentionally) that keeps people from cracking the real metrics it's using.

Mention 'parabiosys' and see how long you remain alive on HN.

Re: Hacking the Hivemind: Predicting Comment Karma on Internet Forums (2014) [pdf]

#27

Post by a1studmuffin »

lacampbell wrote: post #15

I think karma mechanisms have had a net negative effect on online discussion. I don't want to have preconceived notion on how I should feel about a post - I want to make my own decisions. There's no escaping it now though, which is sad.

I'd love to see an automated karma system that scored posts on correct grammar, spelling and readability. I guess that would discourage non-native speakers of a language from participating though.

Re: Hacking the Hivemind: Predicting Comment Karma on Internet Forums (2014) [pdf]

#28

Post by edmccard »

lacampbell wrote: post #15

I think karma mechanisms have had a net negative effect on online discussion. I don't want to have preconceived notion on how I should feel about a post - I want to make my own decisions. There's no escaping it now though, which is sad.

>I don't want to have preconceived notion on how I should feel about a post...

Then don't! Or, if you mean you don't want to know how anyone else felt about a post, and you use the Stylish browser extension, you can use this style I made which makes all comment text the same vivid #000000 --

https://userstyles.org/styles/141705/that-s-just-like-your-o...

Re: Hacking the Hivemind: Predicting Comment Karma on Internet Forums (2014) [pdf]

#29

Post by mrkgnao »

tjalfi wrote: post #9
rosalinekarr wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I still haven't managed to crack Hacker News, though. Tough audience. Just link a bunch of studies to anything you say.[^1] It doesn't actually matter if they're related.[^2] No one really checks the sources anyway.[^3] [^1]: https://arxiv.org/abs/1502.02876 [^2]: https://arxiv.org/abs/1610.02728 [^3]: https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.03799

This hasn't been true for me. My top 3 posts [0, 1, 2] are all fairly trite. All three of these were rated much higher than posts with extensive citations. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13538068 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13441744 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13594765 Edited: This post already has a higher score than https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14180432 which has five cit…

Compare this low-effort comment:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14124411

to these:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14149200

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14016438

Getting "in" when a post has few comments and is going to attract a lot of comment readership quickly or stay on the frontpage for a while is probably more important than pure comment quality.

Re: Hacking the Hivemind: Predicting Comment Karma on Internet Forums (2014) [pdf]

#30

Post by PhasmaFelis »

mrlyc wrote: post #3

That article reminds me of The Auditors in Terry Pratchett's "The Thief of Time" who try to analyse a painting by reducing it to its component molecules. There is no mention of tailoring comments and replies to the target audience. Once I adopted the mindset of a senior high school or college student and posted accordingly, I was able to increase my karma on Reddit from 1,000 per year to 1,000 per month. I still have…

> Once I adopted the mindset of a senior high school or college student and posted accordingly, I was able to increase my karma on Reddit from 1,000 per year to 1,000 per month.

Why, though?

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