

Let's remove all this karma/reputation/friend_count *beep* - gaspard

The whole concept of karma is really painful and not only in the context of HN. It's like the GDP, it says absolutely nothing valuable about a country. In a place where people are healthy, food is good and grown locally, the GDP would inherently be lower then in a country spending billions after a nuclear melt down.<p>For those considering reputation/karma as an indicator of aptitude, I think I'm not the only one who would definitely <i>NOT</i> hire someone with a huge HN "karma" or stackoverflow "reputation". Having lots of points in these games means that the person has spent a lot of time submitting content, answering questions and commenting. I consider that this time would have been better used to write open source code, to directly teach neighbors, teenagers, friends or if the person is a real expert, to create a website with all the good advices, tips, tricks or simply contribute to a wikibook.
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seanmccann
By answering questions on stackoverflow, the person is essentially teaching
neighbors, teenagers, and "friends" by creating an open "wikibook".

Teaching is one of the best ways to learn something. If you can successfully
teach a concept, then it shows deep understanding.

As long as HN or stackoverflow doesn't take up too much productivity, having a
high reputation/karma could be a good thing. It shows passion.

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Khao
It's still useful for gaining privileges on websites such as deleting,
downvoting and editing others' post. But I have to agree with you, it doesn't
make a person any better, just more active on the website.

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snikolov
_Having lots of points in these games means that the person has spent a lot of
time submitting content, answering questions and commenting. I consider that
this time would have been better used to write open source code, to directly
teach neighbors, teenagers, friends or if the person is a real expert, to
create a website with all the good advices, tips, tricks or simply contribute
to a wikibook._

Really? Should people also spend all their time contributing to open source
instead of exercising? Cooking? Painting? Why judge someone's technical merit
on the fact that they find it enjoyable and stimulating to spend some of their
free time actively participating in online communities?

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humj
Karma is just a metric and should be treated as such. If someone is judging
someone else by their karma score, that says more about the judger than the
judgee.

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hansy
It's not a bad way to gauge your own knowledge and expertise. If others
generally find your advice/tip/suggestion useful, you will know when they up
vote you.

I agree karma isn't the end-all-be-all solution, but it may serve as a reality
check for those who think they are hot stuff. It can be both a humbling tool
as well as a confidence booster.

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rch
At least make it non-public.

