21–30 of 91 posts
The whole idea of "Karma" is silly. It encourages conforming to majority views and rewards people who are talkative rather than insightful - often mutually exclusive groups, since insight is gained by thinking & doing rather than posting comments. I think HN would do well to drop karma scores altogether, making this script a non-issue to begin with.
*upvotes*Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure I agree with you. Karma as a measure of personal worth is silly, but as a way of cutting down on trolls it works pretty well. That number at the top of the screen is something that I'd bet the Reddit and TechCrunch commentors would care deeply about, and as such, it keeps them from dumbing down the discussion here too much. In any case, HN is by far the best self-moderated discussion forum I've ever seen…
I like Karma, because it means that established members don't have to worry too much about how any particular post will be received, and can present unpopular points of view without too much penalty.
You say that karma allows established members to "present unpopular points of view without too much penalty" but how does karma's existence (that is, the total of all up-votes on all comments and features gated by that score) not encourage just the opposite? Also, why should we privilege established members' dissent more than outsiders'? It seems like outsiders might even have a better vantage point.
The whole idea of "Karma" is silly. It encourages conforming to majority views and rewards people who are talkative rather than insightful - often mutually exclusive groups, since insight is gained by thinking & doing rather than posting comments. I think HN would do well to drop karma scores altogether, making this script a non-issue to begin with.
I'm not sure I agree with you. Karma as a measure of personal worth is silly, but as a way of cutting down on trolls it works pretty well. That number at the top of the screen is something that I'd bet the Reddit and TechCrunch commentors would care deeply about, and as such, it keeps them from dumbing down the discussion here too much. In any case, HN is by far the best self-moderated discussion forum I've ever seen…
The whole idea of "Karma" is silly. It encourages conforming to majority views and rewards people who are talkative rather than insightful - often mutually exclusive groups, since insight is gained by thinking & doing rather than posting comments. I think HN would do well to drop karma scores altogether, making this script a non-issue to begin with.
While we're on the topic of suggestions that aren't likely to be implemented ;) I like to see the user name hidden on comments and submissions until after you vote and/or reply. Judge the content on the content alone, not on the author.
The whole idea of "Karma" is silly. It encourages conforming to majority views and rewards people who are talkative rather than insightful - often mutually exclusive groups, since insight is gained by thinking & doing rather than posting comments. I think HN would do well to drop karma scores altogether, making this script a non-issue to begin with.
Karma is a mechanism of convenience; that isn't to say it precludes users from browsing and enjoying non-karma'd posts.
The whole idea of "Karma" is silly. It encourages conforming to majority views and rewards people who are talkative rather than insightful - often mutually exclusive groups, since insight is gained by thinking & doing rather than posting comments. I think HN would do well to drop karma scores altogether, making this script a non-issue to begin with.
While we're on the topic of suggestions that aren't likely to be implemented ;) I like to see the user name hidden on comments and submissions until after you vote and/or reply. Judge the content on the content alone, not on the author.
Threads get really confusing when [name withheld until you vote] argues with himself all the time.
The whole idea of "Karma" is silly. It encourages conforming to majority views and rewards people who are talkative rather than insightful - often mutually exclusive groups, since insight is gained by thinking & doing rather than posting comments. I think HN would do well to drop karma scores altogether, making this script a non-issue to begin with.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure I agree with you. Karma as a measure of personal worth is silly, but as a way of cutting down on trolls it works pretty well. That number at the top of the screen is something that I'd bet the Reddit and TechCrunch commentors would care deeply about, and as such, it keeps them from dumbing down the discussion here too much. In any case, HN is by far the best self-moderated discussion forum I've ever seen…
I like Karma, because it means that established members don't have to worry too much about how any particular post will be received, and can present unpopular points of view without too much penalty.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I like Karma, because it means that established members don't have to worry too much about how any particular post will be received, and can present unpopular points of view without too much penalty.
Why would established members "have to worry too much about how any particular post received" if HN didn't have karma? You say that karma allows established members to "present unpopular points of view without too much penalty" but how does karma's existence (that is, the total of all up-votes on all comments and features gated by that score) not encourage just the opposite? Also, why should we privilege established…
What karma does is allow people to find out that you aren't just a troll even if a particular comment is rated at -10.
The whole idea of "Karma" is silly. It encourages conforming to majority views and rewards people who are talkative rather than insightful - often mutually exclusive groups, since insight is gained by thinking & doing rather than posting comments. I think HN would do well to drop karma scores altogether, making this script a non-issue to begin with.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=363
which I count on the curators to read regularly.