

Ask HN: What's the Reddit voting algorithm? - minutes

I just started using Reddit recently for the first time (yes, I'm a slow learner) but I understand that your karma determines something about how much your vote counts for. I've noticed when I log out sometimes, my vote has not registered, maybe because I'm a new user. Has anyone figured out what rules they apply? I assume there's a particular karma threshold at which your votes count more, etc.
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_pius
The Reddit ranking algorithm was/is this:
<http://redflavor.com/reddit.cf.algorithm.png>

And Hacker News's was/is this: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=231209>

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pg
I tweaked it recently, because the increase in users has caused a few stories
to get massive numbers of votes, and these were staying on the frontpage too
long. Now it's

    
    
      (p - 1)^.8 / (t + 2)^1.8
    

where p = points and t = age in hours

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csomar
you can do better, if you count new users votes the half. Newbie may vote
often, as they are new.

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mcav
This isn't reddit. But both Reddit and HN are open-source, so you should be
able to discover the algorithm. HN source is here at
<http://ycombinator.com/arc/arc2.tar> and Reddit's can be found at
<http://reddit.com/code/> .

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ojbyrne
Reddit does say that their "anti-cheating/spam" code is not public. I suspect
that's part of the voting algo.

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ekpyrotic
Do you mean the HN voting algorithm?

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minutes
Thanks for checking - I edited my question to make it more clear hopefully.
But, no, I meant Reddit. I just started using Reddit recently but the site
scares me. I feel like I'm surrounded by a pack of feral dogs.

Aside from that, the HN voting algorithm is pretty straighforward for a new
user to figure out. Whereas on Reddit I never know whether the vote I see is
the one that is actually registered for me. When I log out of my account I
often see that my vote didn't "stick". I don't think that's a good policy on
Reddit's part. Just let me know honestly that I'm not at the level yet where
my vote can count like a more experienced member.

