[Ben Barker]

I hope the new UBB has this. It seems like the perfect solution for this forum's recent problems.
If you had a high karma only section, it would solve many problems.


For anyone who isn't familiar with the concept:
Users start with a moderate amount of karma, like 3 out of 5. More or less can be assigned by other posters and moderators through voting, on a per-thread basis. So, one idotic thread won't dramatically lessen your karma, no matter how many people vote. But 5 idiotic threads will decrease your karma.

Some sections of the forum are only for members with a certain amount of karma, like 4 or 5. Not everyone will be able to access that part at first, but eventually only the generally helpful posters filter in. If a crappy poster slips in, the karma voting system shuts them out pretty quick until they clean up their act, and their karma raises.

Thoughts?

[Bugscratch]

Theoretically it sounds like a good thing though there is a danger that some people whose opinion often differs from that of the general mass (I belong to that group occasionally) get their karma shot down even though they always behaved nicely but simply have a different opinion.
I don't know. I think it might be worth a try.

Is there a working example of a board that has this feature ?

I bet faust wouldn't appreciate this

[This message has been edited by Bugscratch (edited April 15, 2001).]

[Ben Barker]

I think Slashdot might have something like this.
Actually, Faust and anyone else like that would probably have a pretty good karma, if you think about it. The trick is limiting the amount of voting one person can do towards another person's karma. So stneil couldn't vote for spooge to go down 50 times. Maybe only once every two days. And if you vote a lot of people down over a short amount of time, your karma goes down.

Perhaps people can only vote on other people's karma once they achieve a certain karma level. Tried and true veterans can get their karma locked.
Of course, several people would need to get higher karma right off the bat for that to work, but I think we all know a list of people who would qualify. Dhabih and Sumaleth, obviously. Spooge, Synj, Enayla, Frost, Milkman, InDepth, Faustgfx, etc. have all pretty much shown that they have the best interest of the forums in mind (Faust jokes aside )

Karma voting can be enabled only in the gallery forums, not in random musings of discussion. It keeps the amount of flame war voting down.

[Impaler]

1) People are lazy, and would rather just not vote. Methinks it'd get stuck down there as a useless button like "clear fields"

2) Sometimes people make mistakes. Scenario: Someone draws something offensive, but not to them. Everybody overreacts, and votes this guy down. This guy has a lot of potential, but he's now discouraged because he has a karma rating of like, 1. Now multiply this scenario ten times, and have it going at an exponential rate. We're going to dispel a whole lot of potential Mullins'.

3) WE CANNOT SEGREGATE THE FORUMS INTO HIGHER AND LOWER SKILL SECTIONS. The lower sections will feel left out, go ballistic, and end the forum. We can't just cater to Craig Mullins and Francis and the like. This forum is comprised of 2% genius, and 98% rouch-around the-edges. This forum can't run on 2%. If the 98% feels neglected, they leave, and the forum catches on fire.

Just my points.

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My signature is slightly better than yours.

[Ben Barker]

1)If people are too lazy to do something as simple as hit a button, these forums are doomed.

2)Someone could not have their karma drastically reduced as the result of one thread.

3)Karma is not based on artistic skill, it is based on how much someone contributes to the forum. They can draw like shit, or submit no drawings at all, but as long as they are polite, their karma should not be affected. I wouldn't vote someone down if they had a bad drawing, unless it was intentionally bad like SuPeRdRaWeR's stuff.

The way karma usually unfolds is that it makes no difference to 99% of the users, who karma doesn't change, but the other 1% assholes get voted down.

[Affected]

So...once you reach precisely 2.5 karma, do you stop getting reincarnated?

[faustgfx]

true, and with this karma system of yours the following groups of people will be left out of the elitist group:

1. newbies who don't know the rules
2. people like me or spitfire who have opinions and don't like to bend over
3. newbies who can't help others enough to be "cool"
4. those who don't automatically get ass-licked (aka non-mullins, non-enayla etc people)

what do we have left there then? 50 people being all high artsy artists stroking their grunge bears going "yeah man... that's so deep.. like.. dazzling.." while smoking a bong and watching at a abstract ms paint generated 50x50 pixel doodle..

prove me these wrong and you'll rule. :>

[Ian]

I don't smokes de bongs and play with mspaints... no i don't...

[Count Zero]

Actually, wtf is the rating thing?
Are you supposed to rate a person on the quality of their posts or what you personally think about them or what?
If I am unrated, does that mean I'm going to hell when I die?
Enlighten me.

[Impaler]

I just gave Count Zero a rating, because decrement rhymes with excrement, or detriment.

Yeah.. detriment. That's what i meant.

[Ben Barker]

Faust, your new user rating proves you wrong

[Count Zero]

Impaler, love you dude.
You decremented my rating to zero?

[faustgfx]

ben: how so? last i checked i was at 2 stars..

[faustgfx]

oh yay, 3 now