Please don't use hnreputation • Hacker News Board

Re: Please don't use hnreputation

#31

Post by nir » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 6:56 PM UTC

rincewind wrote: post #26

brk wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I trust security advice from tptacek or cperciva more than from [name withheld until you vote]. Threads get really confusing when [name withheld until you vote] argues with himself all the time.

That's my point - some people got high karma by posting intelligent comments, but many others just got it by posting a lot and echoing popular views. So, karma score in itself is pretty useless, in my opinion.

Re: Please don't use hnreputation

#32

Post by pg » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 6:59 PM UTC

brk wrote: post #17

nir wrote: post #16

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.

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

Re: Please don't use hnreputation

#33

Post by brk » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 6:59 PM UTC

rincewind wrote: post #26

brk wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I trust security advice from tptacek or cperciva more than from [name withheld until you vote]. Threads get really confusing when [name withheld until you vote] argues with himself all the time.

Your point about valuing an opinion more highly from a person who is known to be accurate on a subject is valid. In the arguments case, I think it's easy enough to follow an A/B conversation, even without names.

In the first case though, it still seems that the majority of comments here are not so specialized as to require the posters identity to determine if the content is accurate enough or not. Ideally, if you could not judge the accuracy of the comment on your own you would leave it alone. There would be enough others that could judge it impartially that the comment itself would get voted up or down appropriately.

Re: Please don't use hnreputation

#34

Post by scott_s » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 7:05 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #32

brk wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

Re: Please don't use hnreputation

#35

Post by scott_s » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 7:07 PM UTC

nir wrote: post #16

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 don't see HN karma as a reward system, but a way to promote good, civil discussion.

Re: Please don't use hnreputation

#36

Post by calambrac » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 7:17 PM UTC

brk wrote: post #17

nir wrote: post #16

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.

I disagree. There are people on here that I don't want to waste my time reading at all, they're more or less consistent trolls (who knows, maybe I'm one for some people). I may miss out on some accidentally or authentically insightful commentary now and then because I completely skip over comments by certain people, but there's enough insightful commnentary in the universe that I can live with it.

Reputations are important.

Re: Please don't use hnreputation

#37

Post by sachinag » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 7:43 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #32

brk wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

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."

Re: Please don't use hnreputation

#38

Post by hughprime » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 7:44 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #32

brk wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

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).

Re: Please don't use hnreputation

#39

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 8:15 PM UTC

nir wrote: post #16

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.

[deleted]

Re: Please don't use hnreputation

#40

Post by UpFromTheGut » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 8:23 PM UTC

nir wrote: post #16

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 think karma can be very informative-- it gives me an idea of what the majority viewpoints are.