

Online Reputation Systems: how to design one that does what you need - Rod
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/the-magazine/articles/2010/spring/51308/online-reputation-systems-how-to-design-one-that-does-what-you-need/

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bmm6o
So many sites get their reputation system slightly wrong, and end up
incentivizing behaviors that they claim to not want. On discussion forums with
reputation systems, the "echo chamber" effect is encouraged - it's been a
running joke on slashdot since before the term "online reputation system" was
coined. Also, early replies get viewed and upvoted more often, encouraging
quick responses over more thoughtful (but later!) ones.

~~~
kevindication
I independently observed this on slashdot and made a few bucks exploiting the
psychology of readers. I wrote up my thoughts a while back:
[http://squareone.pheared.net/2009/10/make-money-posting-
to-s...](http://squareone.pheared.net/2009/10/make-money-posting-to-
slashdot.html)

~~~
bmm6o
That's awesome. I love that the secret sauce turned out to be Simpson's
quotes.

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goatforce5
Related:

Just yesterday I noticed that OReilly recently published Building Web
Reputation Systems (Randy Farmer, Bryce Glass)

<http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596159801>

<http://buildingreputation.com/>

Randy was consulting with a company I was at a couple of years ago and while
the two of us certainly didn't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, it
encouraged a lot of thought and debate.

I'll be ordering the book today.

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Perceval
It's not clear whether this book really grapples with the problem of
pseudonymity on the web. What happens when a single user can start multiple
accounts--one for good behavior and the other for trolling? When the trolling
account gets banned, can they just start another one?

There can be no 'reputation' without an answer to the problem of pseudonymity.

~~~
krainboltgreene
The guys who created the 4chan web board code seem to think that the comment
is what should have the reputation, not the user. This is one reason why they
have a default-to-anon posting style (With options to force anon only
posting).

People then focus on the content of the comment, not the posters
aura/name/backing.

~~~
lotharbot
One thing I initially hated about HN but have quickly grown to like: usernames
are displayed in tiny, faint text. There are no avatar images, signatures, or
other visual identifiers. This has a similar, though limited, effect -- it
puts the focus on the content, not on the user. (My wife regularly reads my
comments without realizing I'm the author; this would not happen on a board
with avatars.) Yet it also allows users to build a reputation over time,
encouraging us to consistently produce quality content.

~~~
bkudria
For anyone who might want to try the opposite - boldy highlight some users -
try my Chrome extension:
[https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/mkdhfabjcebcgnpg...](https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/mkdhfabjcebcgnpgnhefebefiabhmbfn/)

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jamesshamenski
Here @ HN the simplicity of Karma allows for the most inciteful and productive
community discussions on the net. Would any of these suggestions actually
improve the way things work here?

Also, as much as i hate blippy and swipely - if companies know who actually
purchased a good - then their feedback becomes hugely valuable.

