Why so many newbies with so much karma? - Page 3

kacir · 08-10-2011, 06:06 AM

When this site started, many, many years ago, everybody had the same starting point, so people were accumulating Karma very slowly. As the Karma points, and time spent on a forum accumulated (because, as we know, Karma points you can give is computed from your Karma and also number of days you were registered), people were able to give more and more Karma in a single act of "thanking for the post". That caused that people had even more Karma and could give higher number of points. The result is that now there are some members that can give you 100 000 Karma points with a single click. So the amount of Karma Points that you can receive from long-time members has grown almost exponentially.

It took me looooong time to get to the point when I had 6000 points. That was after I received many thanks for my Monster Review for PB 360°. Since then, I have, in some cases, received significantly more points from just one user for a single post. But, as previous posters said, you can't see how much Karma you have received from individual poster, so newbies that can only give you 10 points are just as important as old-timers that can give you significantly more

GeoffC · 08-10-2011, 06:19 AM

the simple answer is entropy ....

afa · 08-10-2011, 06:25 AM

I must say I'm glad someone brought it up, as I've noticed this phenomenon as well.

I was busy with a new job and hadn't been around MR for a few months. On my return I, too, was surprised to see so many people, particularly relatively new members, who had a significant amount of Karma. I assumed that maybe MR had some sort of 'new policy' where newbies joining were given more Karma on signing up than before. I have no idea, though.

As for the Karma itself, I'm in favor of it. Yes, plenty of users have high number of posts. But the Karma count shows how much a particular user's posts were seen as positive (whether because they were informative, helpful, humorous, or due to blackmail).

I like it and see no reason to get rid of it.

TedJ · 08-10-2011, 07:07 AM

Nice set of "karma facilitators" in your profile pic there, afa.

wayrad · 08-10-2011, 07:22 AM

It's Karmageddon!

I have a feeling something has gone haywire with the karma system - mine has taken a sudden jump too.

wannabee · 08-10-2011, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffC

the simple answer is entropy ....

That Roudolf Clausious must have been one hell of a thinker for his time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TedJ

Nice set of "karma facilitators" in your profile pic there, afa.

See that's the sort of stuff that makes you smile

and press the karma button if you have any left.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wayrad

It's Karmageddon!
I have a feeling something has gone haywire with the karma system - mine has taken a sudden jump too.

Sometimes . . . I must admit . . . to haywireness . . . I have . . . put the karma amount in the wrong field and realised afterword that a newbie with 10 karma points got my full share of what I could give and they probably were wondering why I posted them a message saying "100".

sock puppet · 08-10-2011, 08:25 AM

Do you really think that sock puppets can morph through firewalls and give newbies hundreds and hundreds of karma points. Hmmmmm let's see how many I have to give.

Oh no! NONE! There's no karma button for newbies.

beppe · 08-10-2011, 08:27 AM

The zeros in the karma is just arithmetic. One can modulate the amount of k to be given.

Now, my friend wannabee has 3790000.

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Because he is my friend, and because I like him (the two things do not overlap perfectly, but they do in his case), I got the fancy to give him some karma. which I did, and now his karma has one more zero.

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See?

mldavis2 · 08-10-2011, 08:59 AM

To be honest, I often forget about the karma. There have been some outstanding posts that I 'should' have clicked but got involved in a reply and just forgot. So I don't put much stock in the numbers (which, by the way are showing a lot of rounded values today). I'll try to pay more attention and use it more appropriately -- if I can remember.

Tome Keeper · 08-10-2011, 09:00 AM

Can Karma go down? Only I'm sure my Karma began with 2 and had 8s in it and when I logged in a few weeks ago noticed it's now a round number with lots of 0s. So either I'm going mad, lost karma or something strange is going on - could be any of those really!

HomeInMyShoes · 08-10-2011, 09:13 AM

I got a couple of gigantic boosts from a couple of members. 14 karma adds for the over 400,000 doesn't really compute well and the amount I've recieved isn't really related to actual helpfulness. My most helpful post probably recieved the least amount of karma.

I give karma when:
1) someone helps me out
2) someone points out something I didn't know
3) someone makes me laugh or smile

pdurrant · 08-10-2011, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

14 karma adds

Hey, a new way of bragging.

I have over 35 pages of Karma in my user control panel. I think there's 15 per page, so that's a total of 530 Karma adds. I've been a member for four years, so that's about 130 per year, or a little over one every three days.

kacir · 08-10-2011, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tome Keeper

... and when I logged in a few weeks ago noticed it's now a round number with lots of 0s. So either I'm going mad, lost karma or something strange is going on - could be any of those really!

Somebody decided to give you some Karma. [S]he used a calculator and computed exact amount to give to you so the resulting number of your Karma points is nice round number. Obviously such contributor must be able to give such amount of Karma points. Some users here can now give LOTS of points at once and obviously consider such "prank" amusing ;-)

Gaurnim · 08-10-2011, 09:28 AM

Maybe an additional indication could be the number of times somebody has received karma.
So we can differentiate between somebody with 100k karma and 120 gifts and somebody with 100k karma and 10 gifts.

EDIT : or set a maximum to the amount of karma that can be given in one shot.

ProfCrash · 08-10-2011, 09:44 AM

People who post in the lounge tnd to have higher Karma then people who do not. It could be that new posters are going to the social topics, hanging out, meeting folks and getting Karma. I give out 62,000 Karma per hit right now. I don't alter the amount of Karma I give so if a new persons posts something funny in the what are you drinking thread then I give them Karma.

I give out Karma in other topics as well but I tend to check the drink thread most frequently. (shrugs)

Karma really doesn't mean much so I fial to see why it is a big deal.

08-10-2011, 06:25 AM	#33
afa The Forgotten Posts: 1,136 Karma: 4689999 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Dubai Device: Kindle Paperwhite; Nook HD; Sony Xperia Z3 Compact	I must say I'm glad someone brought it up, as I've noticed this phenomenon as well. I was busy with a new job and hadn't been around MR for a few months. On my return I, too, was surprised to see so many people, particularly relatively new members, who had a significant amount of Karma. I assumed that maybe MR had some sort of 'new policy' where newbies joining were given more Karma on signing up than before. I have no idea, though. As for the Karma itself, I'm in favor of it. Yes, plenty of users have high number of posts. But the Karma count shows how much a particular user's posts were seen as positive (whether because they were informative, helpful, humorous, or due to blackmail). I like it and see no reason to get rid of it. Last edited by afa; 08-10-2011 at 06:28 AM.

08-10-2011, 08:25 AM	#37
sock puppet Banned Posts: 2 Karma: 10250 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: dark side of the moon Device: eSock	Do you really think that sock puppets can morph through firewalls and give newbies hundreds and hundreds of karma points. Hmmmmm let's see how many I have to give. Oh no! NONE! There's no karma button for newbies. Last edited by sock puppet; 08-10-2011 at 08:28 AM.

08-10-2011, 08:27 AM	#38
beppe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,161 Karma: 81026524 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Italy Device: Kindle3, Ipod4, IPad2	The zeros in the karma is just arithmetic. One can modulate the amount of k to be given. Now, my friend wannabee has 3790000. Because he is my friend, and because I like him (the two things do not overlap perfectly, but they do in his case), I got the fancy to give him some karma. which I did, and now his karma has one more zero. See?

08-10-2011, 09:28 AM	#44
Gaurnim Final Five n°42 Posts: 789 Karma: 3599 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Lyon, France Device: Cybook Gen3	Maybe an additional indication could be the number of times somebody has received karma. So we can differentiate between somebody with 100k karma and 120 gifts and somebody with 100k karma and 10 gifts. EDIT : or set a maximum to the amount of karma that can be given in one shot. Last edited by Gaurnim; 08-10-2011 at 09:30 AM.

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08-10-2011, 06:06 AM	#31
kacir Wizard Posts: 3,462 Karma: 10484861 Join Date: May 2006 Device: PocketBook 360, before it was Sony Reader, cassiopeia A-20	When this site started, many, many years ago, everybody had the same starting point, so people were accumulating Karma very slowly. As the Karma points, and time spent on a forum accumulated (because, as we know, Karma points you can give is computed from your Karma and also number of days you were registered), people were able to give more and more Karma in a single act of "thanking for the post". That caused that people had even more Karma and could give higher number of points. The result is that now there are some members that can give you 100 000 Karma points with a single click. So the amount of Karma Points that you can receive from long-time members has grown almost exponentially. It took me looooong time to get to the point when I had 6000 points. That was after I received many thanks for my Monster Review for PB 360°. Since then, I have, in some cases, received significantly more points from just one user for a single post. But, as previous posters said, you can't see how much Karma you have received from individual poster, so newbies that can only give you 10 points are just as important as old-timers that can give you significantly more

08-10-2011, 06:19 AM	#32
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,599 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	the simple answer is entropy ....

08-10-2011, 07:07 AM	#34
TedJ Groupie Posts: 189 Karma: 86778 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Brisbane, Australia Device: Kobo Touch	Nice set of "karma facilitators" in your profile pic there, afa.

08-10-2011, 07:22 AM	#35
wayrad Fanatic Posts: 551 Karma: 1121392 Join Date: May 2008 Location: USA Device: HTC One M8	It's Karmageddon! I have a feeling something has gone haywire with the karma system - mine has taken a sudden jump too.

08-10-2011, 08:59 AM	#39
mldavis2 Coffee Nut Posts: 410 Karma: 298350 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Missouri Device: Kindle 3; K4PC; Calibre	To be honest, I often forget about the karma. There have been some outstanding posts that I 'should' have clicked but got involved in a reply and just forgot. So I don't put much stock in the numbers (which, by the way are showing a lot of rounded values today). I'll try to pay more attention and use it more appropriately -- if I can remember.

08-10-2011, 09:00 AM	#40
Tome Keeper Addict Posts: 355 Karma: 1001201 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: UK Device: Kindle 3 Keyboard, Surface Tablet, Android Smartphone, Laptop, Netbook	Can Karma go down? Only I'm sure my Karma began with 2 and had 8s in it and when I logged in a few weeks ago noticed it's now a round number with lots of 0s. So either I'm going mad, lost karma or something strange is going on - could be any of those really!

08-10-2011, 09:13 AM	#41
HomeInMyShoes Grand Sorcerer Posts: 19,226 Karma: 67780237 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: none	I got a couple of gigantic boosts from a couple of members. 14 karma adds for the over 400,000 doesn't really compute well and the amount I've recieved isn't really related to actual helpfulness. My most helpful post probably recieved the least amount of karma. I give karma when: 1) someone helps me out 2) someone points out something I didn't know 3) someone makes me laugh or smile

08-10-2011, 09:44 AM	#45
ProfCrash Tea Enthusiast Posts: 8,554 Karma: 75384937 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Somewhere in the USA Device: Kindle1, Kindle DX Graphite, K3 3G, IPad 3, PW2	People who post in the lounge tnd to have higher Karma then people who do not. It could be that new posters are going to the social topics, hanging out, meeting folks and getting Karma. I give out 62,000 Karma per hit right now. I don't alter the amount of Karma I give so if a new persons posts something funny in the what are you drinking thread then I give them Karma. I give out Karma in other topics as well but I tend to check the drink thread most frequently. (shrugs) Karma really doesn't mean much so I fial to see why it is a big deal.

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