Karma

It gages how "in tune" your opinions are with the majority of the others.

11 (33.3%)

It gages your forum etiquette.

3 (9.1%)

Both

19 (57.6%)

Total Members Voted: 15

[Earthwormzim]

With respect to this board, what do you think seems to be the significance of the "Karma" rating?

Option 1:
It gages how "in tune" your opinions are with the majority of the others.
Yeah, your opinions may or may not actually be just like everyone else's, but never mind that.  Just in case any of your opinions are out of line, just ditto the most popular view(s), and your karma will increase, provided that this is what others believe is the intended purpose for karma.  You will look so super cool to everyone else with that super high karma rating.

Option 2:
It gages your forum etiquette.
Avoid flaming others, stay on topic, and respect others' opinions, and your karma will rise, provided that this is what others believe is the intended purpose for karma.

[ladyattis]

I say both, but it depends. Some folks just bitchslap cause they get mad at the other person and what not. It seems sad too, because I think karma would be fun if it had special titles for it. Like having -666 makes you the Mega-AntiChrist, where +666 makes you Lame-Antichrist. And what not.

-- Bridget

[Earthwormzim]

Personally, I try to refrain from applauding/bitchslapping people just because their opinions are similar/not-similar to mine.  But, unfortunately...I don't believe that is what most others use it for.  I think most others applaud when they agree, and bitchslap when they disagree.  In fact, I believe that this is the most popular view of karma...which winds up resulting in people just ditto-ing the most popular views.

[gandhi2]

I would say that it marks your respect of other opinions, as well as conforming to certain standards of debate.  Be a dick, use personal attacks, fail to follow logic, use unconfirmed opinion as fact, beat a dead horse, you get bitchslapped.  That sort of thing.

I've been a bad boy.  My karma seems to be taking a hit for me being a jerk to certain undesirable elements.

[Earthwormzim]

Case-in-point:  When I posted a "9-11 Conspiracy" parody thread, my karma dropped precipitously. 

Edit:
And on the topic about wifi...my karma took a massive hit.  But there were two reasons for it here.  One, my opinion was not popular.  And two, I was a bad-boy, too.  In lieu of my better judgment, I started name-calling...more specifically, I started calling those who thought that leeching wifi was not stealing, "grab-asses".  In this case, I probably deserved most of it.

My bad.  I guess I got a little more heated about the topic than I should have.

And now, in my latest debate (the one on anime), I'm trying to remain as cool-headed as possible.  But, people still don't like anime, and I expect my karma to continue to fall due to my difference in opinion.

[Taors]

I don't know, but someone's been a bitch to me lately in regards to karma.

[Zhwazi]

I applaud people who make posts that are easy to understand, profound/insightful/clever, are helpful, and so on.

I bitchslap people who are being assholes, unrepentfully being an idiot (not difference of opinion, I didn't touch your karma in the wifi thread, but more like what bentucker does), or something like that.

[AlexLibman]

Neither.

Some persistence (or a little perl script & cron job) can sway someone's karma drastically in either direction, which is more telling of the anonymous bitchslapper than the bitchslapee.  Take me for example - my karma was in the upper 70s and surging ever higher, but then I pissed someone off, probably on them conspiracy theory threads, and down it went 20+ points, in spite of my behavior on the forum remaining constant.

If I ran this forum, I'd turn the karma feature off, and instead assign unique item ID's to everything - static pages, wiki pages, users, individual posts, threads as a whole, etc.  I'd then write a small PHP widget that lets people rank that object (single-click AJAX data push, so there's no delay), like Amazon.com's 1-5 stars thing, making it a measure of opinion rather than persistence.  It would also have an added advantage of letting people know what specific things they're doing right or wrong, as well as allow for additional features that spotlight the best forum threads and hide the worst ones out of view.  With that object ID thing in place it'd also be easy to add a tagging feature (superseding the Wiki categories), creating a more detailed and decentralized hierarchy for all content on the site.

[Bill Brasky]

Treat people with some respect and have a sense of humor.  Now, I know right off the bat, you're gonna say "Respect?!?"  as if I am incapable of treating anyone kindly, but your experiences with me have been rather limited.  Normally, when the humor clashes with the respect, it is viewed as irreverence and that is where you get into choppy waters.  Some people have a shitty sense of humor and take themselves too seriously when they should realize this is a forum where individuality is king.  Basically, if you cant take a joke, maybe you should look for a moderated forum.  The cornerstone of a place like this is speech, and as a wise man once said, you have no right to be free from offense here. 


I think this place works wonderfully as an experiment, you've got all different walks of life co-existing and the diversity of topics here reflects the diversity of the people themselves. 

So, I think the secret to karma is to make some friends, be flexible enough to go up and down the "social scale" by participating in the topics both serious and light hearted.  Have some fun, fuck around, and when it comes time to vocalize your opinion, dont bother checking the wind to see which direction it's blowing.  Just stand up on your hind legs and sound off like you've got a pair.

...Because thats how life works, in general.  So, its really not a secret at all, its more like a hidden truth.  Its just as visible as someone standing right in front of you trying too hard to be liked.  People like other people for thousands of reasons, but nobody likes a liar.  You can craft your technique long and hard, but it'll still be fiction unless you drop the mask and just speak your mind.  And, if you can do that with positive feedback...  The answer to the question is pretty simple.  You are being rewarded for being an enjoyable person, or the opposite.  Of course, it does tend to get abused in some cases.  Probably not yours, though. 

[freedom geek]

It means nothing, its completely random.

[EternityAblaze]

I think it means:

"I have two accounts both with applaud/bitchslap capability and I constantly applaud each of my profiles to keep my karma up.  That way people will respect my opinion and the things I say without having to read!"

btw, where is this option in the poll? :p

[Brian Wolf]

I agree with Alex.

Its pretty easy for someone with a vendetta to manipulate the Karma system.

I try to judge each person on an individual basis regardless of their Karma.

I throw way more +'s than -'s, I'll Bitchslap someone for being a dick, or if their comments turn my stomach.

I'll applaud someone for making a good point or if it makes me laugh or think in a way that I haven't before.

[EternityAblaze]

A way to make the "applaud/bitchslap" system work would be to show each user's applaud/bitchslap ratio, how many times that certain person applauds versus bitchslapping.  That way you could see if someone just bitchslaps for the fun of it or applauds for the fun of it.

Example:  EternityAblaze has applauded 15 times today and bitchslapped 13.

15/13  per day

(those numbers are strictly for example and aren't real!  I'd never applaud that many times in a day. ;p)

[Bill Brasky]

I agree with Alex.

Its pretty easy for someone with a vendetta to manipulate the Karma system.

I try to judge each person on an individual basis regardless of their Karma.

I throw way more +'s than -'s, I'll Bitchslap someone for being a dick, or if their comments turn my stomach.

I'll applaud someone for making a good point or if it makes me laugh or think in a way that I haven't before.

Yep.  Except I don't bitchslap, I agree with the rest. 

I've said it before...  Giving karma is nice, but taking it away is petty.  When I disagree with something I either ignore it or speak up about it.  If you've got an issue with someone elses statements, its far more satisfying to express your opposition than to hide behind a stupid little button like some kind of vengeful turd. 

Then, once you've made your position clear, it hangs there forever, like sneakers on a phone wire. 

One slap, I could see that.  Blow off your steam.  If thats what it takes to help get you over this little obstacle someone has so rudely placed in your way. 

But changing your habits and seeking out someone to deliberately knock their numbers down?  Thats kinda weird.  Ok, morning, make coffee, sign on, bitchslap, wait one hour, bitchslap again, feed the dog, take a shower, bitchslap...  Taking those steps shows a flaw in the mental process. 

...Even the term "bitchslap" is a misnomer.  People identify it with grabbing someone and backhanding them for saying or doing something stupid, to show their superiority.  But its just as easily defined as a slap from a bitch.  Little poofy taps from a flailing angered crying hysterical bitch in the throwes of a hissy fit. 

Ouch.  They hurt. 

[mikehz]

Unfortunately, both. It should reflect board etiquette, but many posters use it to bitchslap those who disagree with their opinion