

Please don't use hnreputation - pg

A bunch of people have been emailing me asking to have their IP unblocked after using this script<p>http://github.com/brainkarma/hnreputation/tree/master<p>which apparently hits the server so hard that it gets their IP ignored.
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nir
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.

~~~
brk
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.

~~~
rincewind
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.

~~~
adimit
How about withholding the name still, but offering a way to 'opt-out' from
voting. You don't see the name until you either vote up or opt out. After
you've withheld your voice, you can't go vote again on that
submission/comment.

~~~
eru
> you either vote up or opt out

How about voting down?

~~~
Novash
You can't vote down until you hit a certain karma threshold.

~~~
eru
Yes, I know. I just could not resist making the itemization complete.

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jnorthrop
For those that don't know what this is...

"This Greasemonkey script for news.ycombinator.com will display the reputation
of a user in the comment header as well as in the links' title tooltip."

~~~
DannoHung
This does not strike me as conducive to the purpose of HN.

~~~
mjgoins
It's not, and I seem to remember that this exact problem (the technical
problem, but also the one you mention) was pointed out when the script was
introduced.

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brianto2010
jacquesm _did_ warn you guys:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=779181>

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henning
It does one HTTP request for each comment in a thread, it looks like.

Kind of irresponsible coding, I think.

~~~
keyist
Irresponsible usage as well. Those who used the script should really have at
least eyeballed the source first.

[EDIT: This is HN. Surely I don't have to explain the pitfalls of downloading
a Greasemonkey script and running it in your browser without checking what it
does? It's even worse than uneducated users tricked into running malware since
you're knowingly installing a script.]

~~~
PieSquared
Whoa, _what_?!

~~~
PieSquared
True, I guess, but it seems a bit extreme to say that anyone downloading a
Greasemonkey script should be examining the javascript inside it to figure out
what it does. That's all I meant by my 'Wait, what' comment. Should've
elaborated, then.

~~~
jwecker
Looking at the karma there, it seems your explanation is exactly adequate.

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sh1mmer
I think you should read all comment without knowing the person's karama.
You'll probably recognise some of our more illustrious users by username but
really you should be evaluating each comment on it's merit, not the author's
karma.

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yan
If this functionality is desired enough for enough people to use this, why not
publish a list of users, updated say, hourly so these scripts can cache the
reputations? But then again, don't really see the point in using this.

Also, if reputation's that important, you can just cache the 'leaders' list.

~~~
icey
A) Reputation isn't a very good measure of anything as far as I'm concerned.

B) It's trivial to click on someone's name and see what their reputation is if
it's important to the person reading / replying.

