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Show HN: I got tired of stressing about my karma, so I wrote this.

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Re: Show HN: I got tired of stressing about my karma, so I wrote this.

#21

Post by J3L2404 »

jaysonelliot wrote: post #9

I like the karma system overall, and I think the general quality of discussion on HN is evidence that things are mostly working well. The only thing I find off about it is the average karma on profile pages. Personally, I find that it subconsciously dissuades me from commenting anywhere that is likely to result in few/no upvotes. My first comment on a story might get 20, 40, 80 upvotes, but any extended discussion is…

Updates to your karma average are a rolling average and updated asychronously. Basically it takes your comments numbered 6-50, throws out the highest-scoring one, and averages them.

Re: Show HN: I got tired of stressing about my karma, so I wrote this.

#22

Post by reinhardt »

n9com wrote: post #13

If any of you are 'stressing' about a pointless number next to your username, then I think you need to take a step back and put things into perspective.

My thoughts exactly. The whole idea of caring (at least more than a light curiosity) about whether other people from the interwebs disagree with something you wrote sounds bizarre to me.

Re: Show HN: I got tired of stressing about my karma, so I wrote this.

#23

Post by Monotoko »

The iPhone app I use to access HN when I'm on the move goes one further. It removes the name from everyone, still lets me reply... but doesn't show me the username.

Now in all honesty I think something broke it last year because it used to show, but I've forgotten about karma and it just lets me focus on the content and context of the post.

Re: Show HN: I got tired of stressing about my karma, so I wrote this.

#24

Post by devgutt »

jaysonelliot wrote: post #9

I like the karma system overall, and I think the general quality of discussion on HN is evidence that things are mostly working well. The only thing I find off about it is the average karma on profile pages. Personally, I find that it subconsciously dissuades me from commenting anywhere that is likely to result in few/no upvotes. My first comment on a story might get 20, 40, 80 upvotes, but any extended discussion is…

I think "upvote" is good and help conversation, but i don´t like "downvote". I think that is unnecessary. Many times i saw comments heavily downvoted and valid to me. Vote what is good is sufficient for me.

Re: Show HN: I got tired of stressing about my karma, so I wrote this.

#25

Post by hackermom »

n9com wrote: post #13

If any of you are 'stressing' about a pointless number next to your username, then I think you need to take a step back and put things into perspective.

I think that's good advice, and I would like to send it along also to the tiny-minded portion of users here on HN who campaign personal, pityful battles on others by systematically downvoting their posts for no apparent reason, as well as those who just can't seem to let things fly, but rather just have to hammer down on users with opinions they simply don't agree with.

I think the karma system as it stands now is problematic because of how it simply enables the generally grumpy crowd of HN to fuel their own overgrown negativity.

Re: Show HN: I got tired of stressing about my karma, so I wrote this.

#26

Post by devgutt »

jasonlotito wrote: post #18
ot wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it has certainly made me be more careful in the comments I've made. Isn't this the ultimate form of groupthink?

Often times the people complaining about groupthink are also the ones acting immature. If you inject in your comment the feel of someone trying to rebel ("I know I'm going to get down voted..." or "I hate to be that guy..."), you're already starting off wrong. Act the part of an adult and you'll be treated like one. I've found that if I spend a few minutes to justify my belief, and approach the discussion as that of…

Entrepreneurs are rebels. But in HN you have to contain yourself to not "hurt anyone". Know what, i like all kind of comments, especially the harsh ones. I just ignore the stupid parts and go on. I don´t read the comments emotionally.

Re: Show HN: I got tired of stressing about my karma, so I wrote this.

#27

Post by hackermom »

Tomis02 wrote: post #20

You'll still get banned by the cabal running HN when you inevitably bump into the guy who can't accept an opinion different from his. Add a "you've been banned, try again" notifier.

Couldn't have said it any better. Just look at how your post was downvoted for simply pointing this sensitive fact out. The action speaks so loud and clear. In every social construct and gathering you always find that group of "socially immechanical" people who, with every means possible, try to assert some kind of status or rank over others. In the case of HN, it's done by downvoting posts of users holding a different opinion than your own.

Re: Show HN: I got tired of stressing about my karma, so I wrote this.

#29

Post by pgisaliar »

chris_wot wrote: post #11
anthonyb wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. There are plenty of snarky people on HN who know what they're talking about and aren't afraid to tell you. Unfortunately, that means that they get a disproportionate share of downvoting groupthink. Perhaps the saddest example (for us) that I can think of is CPlatypus ( http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=CPlatypus ). Apparently a start up veteran, works at RedHat - I don't know what his blog is. I traw…

If they have responded with an inflammatory reply, I understand why they have been downvoted. I agree with you about the contributor CPlatypus, he did have a lot of insightful comments. However, he also frequently accused others (including pg!) of being liars, etc. For the record, the hell banning practices are extremely disconcerting on Hacker News. On the original site that hellbanning was designed for, it was to s…

pg is a documented liar and snake oil salesman.

Re: Show HN: I got tired of stressing about my karma, so I wrote this.

#30

Post by chris_wot »

devgutt wrote: post #26
jasonlotito wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Often times the people complaining about groupthink are also the ones acting immature. If you inject in your comment the feel of someone trying to rebel ("I know I'm going to get down voted..." or "I hate to be that guy..."), you're already starting off wrong. Act the part of an adult and you'll be treated like one. I've found that if I spend a few minutes to justify my belief, and approach the discussion as that of…

Entrepreneurs are rebels. But in HN you have to contain yourself to not "hurt anyone". Know what, i like all kind of comments, especially the harsh ones. I just ignore the stupid parts and go on. I don´t read the comments emotionally.

The problem is that many others cannot do this. In general, the more emotional the discussion, the more noise is generated. You don't want to have to wade through a dozen nested comments of accusations and pointless and off-topic argumentation before you get to the actual decent content.
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