Karma Points

[EricG1793]

I notice that some people get to be "Senior Member" before their posts say 1000. I realize that to be promoted to a status higher up, it's the Karma Points, which members can only view their own, that affects the Karma Title. However... why are Karma points different (higher, I've noticed) than the post count? And when does the system decide to add on a Karma point?

Right now my post count is 135 and my Karma Points level is 146. What have I accomplished to get the eleven more Karma Points than my post count?

Thanks for explanations ahead of time. I've been here for three months but I still have the occasional question here and there.

[wildflower]

Karma points are the total amount of posts you have ever made- that is to say, it includes deleted posts. If your karma is eleven higher than your displayed post count, then eleven posts have been deleted. That's all. It is possible for admins to mess with karma status, adding on points for being helpful or whatever; we don't have anything like that here, though. The FAQ says that posting too many short, useless posts will get your count zeroed out, but I've never seen this actually happen.

[alla]

Originally Posted by kli6:

Q: What's this karma? How do I get more?

Karma points are assigned automatically by the number of posts you write (roughly 1 point per post), but karma points can also be edited by the admins, if they see you do something they like a lot, or something they abhor (like, say, posting a ton of one-liners to boost karma count. That gets your count zeroed, and you have to start over again).

Karma points affect the title under your name. If you select Go -> My Space -> Karma, you'll see the levels at which different titles are assigned.

Reasons in discrepancies are more likely attributed to deleted posts than to the mods/admins playing with your count.

More info about the forums can be found over at the Board FAQ.

[EricG1793]

Thanks, wildflower! That answered all my questions.

Thanks for helping too, alla, but wildflower beet you to it. I've already read the board FAQ, but thank you for directing me.

[Rubywolf]

I wish there were more karma levels, so you aren't stuck a "member" for your first thousand posts. Maybe you become a "Wiazard" at five hundred, or something....

[EricG1793]

I agree with that... maybe the Karma titles should go like the stages of a wizard's life. I think one at 500 would be nice, too.... Looking at it with a different example, we're going from baby, to child, to an elderly person with the system we have now.

Maybe it could be...
___________________________________

1-14 (posts/Karma points) Pre-Ordeal

15-49: (Some word meaning "during" or to the like) Ordeal; in training

50-499: Wizard

500-999: Advisory

1000+: Senior

____________________________________

...Or something to the like of that.

The name I came up with for 15-49 is a bit corny, but I'm sure many of you have better opinions. I think that that numbering system makes sense, though, but the titles I came up with are a bit corny.... Any other suggestions?

[Lazy Leopard]

I rather like the way one of the boards I watch changes its karma level names from time to time. At the moment it's all wolf-pack heirarchy, but a little while ago it was grades of chocolate. I've no idea where the boundaries are though. I suspect they may changes at random too. The only forum I have any control over has a very limited number of levels, and the boundaries are at prime numbers...

o/~ My karma broke down on the road to glory.
o/~ My karma broke down, ain't that a shame.
o/~ My karma broke down, I'm in Purgatory,
o/~ And I can't get a ticket on the Astral Plain.
by Three Weird Sisters

[EricG1793]

I went to look for synonyms for "during" and there aren't any words that mean the same thing as that. I looked at Rhymezone.com and Dictionary.com. However at Dictionary.com I found "Dure" when it was giving me results after I type in "During". So... maybe the second stage could be "Dure Ordeal".... But I've never even heard of the word "Dure" before, and it sounds a bit odd.... But at the same time it sounds perfect....

I also had another idea.... Maybe members who are "Senior" and up could have the ability to OPEN the chat room. And close it when they leave. But just to open and close it; moderating it is The Three Admins' jobs. Why should Seniors be able to do this? Because if they have a thousand Karma Points they're likely to be here for a few years, and also contributed a fair amount of helpful posts. Maybe a little less, maybe a lot more. But the point is they know what's appropriate and what's not in Chat, so they could watch it and close it if there were... issues... in it. Maybe that's not such a good idea, but... it's a suggestion for "Seniority Privileges", privileges of which my bus driver gives. And it's a way to get Chat open a small bit more than it is now (Yes, I am aware of the IRC channel, but... we all know it's just not the same, not as convenient and easy to use as Chime).

OK, going back to Karma levels... Looking back on "Dure Ordeal" after taking five minutes to write about seniority privileges, it doesn't sound that bad to me anymore.

[seabiscuit1009]

*shrugs* I happen to like the how the karma points are arranged right now; why mess with something that works?

I'm not a fan of giving that kind of chat privileges to Senior members; yes, it is kind of hard to get to be a senior member, but just being one doesn't guarantee that the person is being helpful around the forums or anything.

Eric: moderating it is The Three Admins' jobs.

Yes, it's their job, which is why it doesn't really make sense to allow people to open it when they're not around. One of the reasons it's not open now is because it's hard to go through transcripts looking for any rule-breaking. I miss chat too, but letting senior members open it doesn't seem like it'll help solve problems that occurred while it was open before.

Oh...and if you're still looking for a word to go before "Ordeal," how about what DD used in HW when Nita looked at Dairine's listing in the manual? "On Ordeal" makes sense, and goes with the books. Sort of a "duh!" answer, but that's the kind of answer I see when I look at the question.

[EricG1793]

OK, that's one person who likes how the Karma titles are now and doesn't think they should be changed....

(Shrugs) OK, well, we all have our own opinions. There aren't many Seniors around* anyway. It wouldn't make much of a difference to the amount of time Chat was open, anyway, but still, it WOULD be more time.

If you disagree with that, then what Seniority Privileges do you recommend? Every single member's opinion is worth something to me (slightly stresses "me")

(Considers present and past situation(s)) (Gets irritated) Why is it that whenever I have decent ideas that I've put a lot of thought in to to make the Forums a better place that some other member (not just seabiscuit, but many other people) comes in extinguishes the match with a tornado**?!!

_____________________________________

*Well, there's young reader, but he has trouble getting in to Chime anyway.... There's also Agent M., but that member hasn't shown signs of life for ages***. I can't think of any other Seniors... besides Kathy, but she already has privileges (or duties, whatever you want to call them). If Lee and Garrett weren't admins they wouldn't be Seniors, either, but that's a little off topic.

**A little too dramatic, but you get the picture... maybe a tsunami would go well there, too.

***As far as I can tell... I personally haven't seen any posts by, or seen in chat, for months.

[spyells]

Your rant is entertaining.

I agree with your idea. I think it would be cool for all of us to have Karma titles. I also feel that when you become a senior member you should be able to pick the Karma title of your choice. There was this one Karma title I saw on another forum that said "A ghost of a smile". I really liked it. It will also give people the chance to show their own individuality.

[Rhi]

Hmm, technically I'm supposed to be doing homework. Oh well Anyways...I'm fine with the karma levels as is, though the wizard statuses Eric mentioned earlier make sense too. I guess I'm too laid back to argue with this

Why is it that whenever I have decent ideas that I've put a lot of thought in to to make the Forums a better place that some other member (not just seabiscuit, but many other people) comes in extinguishes the match with a tornado**?!!

There are several answers to your question, Eric. A. *gets a bit wry* the world is NOT out to get you, other people just so happen to also have opinions, and they have just as much right to voice them as you do, and it's a lot more fun if everyone gets to have their say. B. In a debate, both sides of an issue must be discussed. The same principle applies here; there are always two sides to an issue, and to only voice one is to omit half of the issue. There's going to be opposition to pretty much anything. C. It's fun to watch you rant Really, Eric, nobody's trying to offend you or anything, we're just being the strange humans/dragons/cats/etc. that we are *purs to prevent Eric from getting mad at her, too*

[Kathy Li]

Eric, speaking personally, part of the reason I'll rain on your parade is because from experience, I've seen that same idea tried and have seen what happens. I applaud the effort, but just because you think something's a good idea doesn't necessarily make it a good idea, or an idea that hasn't been considered before. Keep on coming up with and testing your ideas, though--that's how problems get solved, inventions created, discoveries found, and art created. You just might want to test the idea in your head a little bit more rigorously before putting it in front of folks.

Like the whole issue of ranks and karma points. On boards where people make a big deal about ranks, you end up with folks attempting to inflate their post counts to climb up the ranks more quickly. We've ALREADY had problems with people posting content-free oneliners to boost their post counts without ranks (seriously, there was one time when the bandwidth for the site tripled in one month because of one-liners from newbies; not to mention email notifications, avatars, and huge sigs--hence the establishing of a few rules and the FAQs coming into being).

Yes, I'd love to set up ranks like "On Ordeal" "Novice" "Intermediate" "Senior" "Advisory" "Local" "Regional" "Continental" "Tectonic Plate" "Planetary" "Stellar System" "Galactic", etc., but I prefer not having to constantly nag people about one-liners, falsely boosting post counts, or ripping Karma points away from folks as an admin.

Besides, I think I can remember back in the mists of time (because you are not the first (or second or third) to suggest the idea of 'better' ranks) that Lee and/or DD actively discouraged the idea and pretty much said "it's that way because it's the way we want it." Unless or until DD changes her mind about it, I think the ranks are staying as they are.

[EricG1793]

I have decided I'm going to keep my mouth shut and not give out any more suggestions or ideas from here on. They're not good and aren't valued by anyone (just about), so what point is it in wasting my time to come up with them, (hurried, brief sigh) not to mention waste the space and bandwidth on the servers to briefly debate them before they're vetoed?

At this point I'm wondering if it's even a good idea to even have the FAQ links in my signature.... Although at the same time I think it's absolutely necessary to have them there, since none of the other current regulars do and even the admins don't.... At the moment I can't describe how I feel about this, but... it's not a good feeling.... It's probably selfish to say that I'm feeling unappreciated, but maybe it's not.... You be your own private judge.

[Kathy Li]

Poor Eric. It's only because I'm a lot older, far more cynical, and a grizzled veteran of dozens of Internet flamewars. The thing is, if it's really a good idea, it'll stand up to all our pounding on it, or you won't care about our pounding on it. But like any skill--you have to practice to get good at it. Nobody gets everything right the first time.

And I appreciate you!--remember I thought the suggestion to clean out private topics was a good one.

As for the FAQs in your sig--well, you saw the effect that my "constant nagging" had on Spyells. That's why I only use a signature occasionally to remind folks about the Board FAQ--I think it has more impact when I use it sparingly. Peter Murray, obviously, felt differently and had links to all three FAQs in his signature all the time. There's no one right way to do it.

A lot of getting by on the 'net is learning to converse and argue ideas with people who come from completely different points of view. Remember that the ONLY thing we all know we have in common is that we love the YW books.