

How to improve Hacker News - simonebrunozzi
http://www.brunozzi.com/2013/08/30/how-to-improve-hacker-news/

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sp332
I disagree. The reason commenters' names are small and grey is because the
identity of the person shouldn't get in the way of your judgement of the
content of their ideas.

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simonebrunozzi
I understand your point, but I have a different view. Sometimes there are MANY
comments on a thread, and looking at the Karma can help you decide which
comment you want to take a look at.

Besides, it would be nice to test this feature and see how it works, no?

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sp332
Individual comments are sorted on a page according to how many upvotes they
have. New comments go at the top and sink down over time if they don't get
upvoted. There is also some evidence that the commenter's karma affects how
quickly a new comment sinks. So, each comment is sorted according to how much
people like its content, not on how much people like the user.

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simonebrunozzi
Thanks for clarification; I already had a pretty good idea of how this worked.
I still believe that we should map what happens in real life, which is: "if
someone influential says something, you listen more carefully". Do you think
this makes sense on HN?

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simonebrunozzi
sp332, it seems that I cannot nest another comment again.

Don't you think that your conclusion means that the Karma system on HN is
fundamentally flawed?

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sp332
I think all karma systems are flawed :) But I like HN's better than most. It
has been tweaked over time to fit the community.

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simonebrunozzi
:D

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nanofortnight
Ideas should be judged based on their own merit and not on the influence of
the individual who proposes them, as the karma metric might suggest.

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simonebrunozzi
And I disagree. In real life, if someone important or influential says
something, you are MORE impressed. This should be reflected in HN as well.

As said on another comment, I would love to see this feature be tested for a
few days, and see what people think.

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foobarbazqux
It used to work like this and then they improved it.

