
Ask HN: Is 311 Karma Points good? - bernardlunn
Really. I don&#x27;t know. I like the content and occasionally comment. Have not tried to increase it. Should I? How? Why?
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sotojuan
Never liked the idea of karma myself - most people _do_ care about it
(particularly in HN or reddit where low karma posts are hidden) so they will
either not speak their mind or parrot some popular opinion to reap rewards.
Combine that with a threading model that puts top posts at the top and you
pretty much only see popular/echo chamber posts.

HN is a bit better because sometimes you get the rare, unpopular opinion that
is well-researched and explained so it makes it to the top.

IMO the best format for discourse is a traditional imageboard/forum where all
posts "weigh" the same. It has negatives (nested quotes, thread derailment
that you can't hide) but I prefer it to the HN/reddit model.

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FroshKiller
The only difference for me is that at some point, I got the ability to
downvote comments. I'd like to think that gives me a tool to shape discourse,
but honestly, submitting topics and making comments is a more effective way to
do that in my opinion.

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gigatexal
Karma is meaningless.

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sharemywin
I have 1717 think about how many more raises I could have gotten had I spent
more time on more productive activities.

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SirLJ
I bet a lot of people are self-censoring to avoid being downvoted...
Unfortunately this is probably leaving out a lot of potentially great "against
the grain" comments and ideas... Not to mention the herd mentality, once
someone is downvoted is more likely to get downvoted again... Also I had a
case of a bully who would go every day and downvote all my postings on
purpose...

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12s12m
Why are you even thinking about it? Do you want to have the ability to
downvote? In that case you should probably have a higher karma. Instead try to
participate in useful conversations so that you may learn something from it.
Karma just for the sake of it is really meaningless.

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tabeth
I wish I could disable participation, or at least disable all indications of
its existence (number around your name, downvote indication, etc.)

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andreasgonewild
Karma is part of the echo-chamber strategy, a way to enforce public opinion
over wider perspectives that might rock the boat. Funny thing is that it
actually kind-of works the other way, since any post/comment that gets a lot
of down-votes is probably on to something fundamental. You are not a number,
don't let them trick you into behaving like one.

