POLL: Remove karma system

[werdna]

Well, think of it this way. A +ve karma button system would be easy to set up (I assume). A 'thanks' system in the threads would require no implementation effort whatsoever - it's human nature for people to say 'thanks' and so it's already happening in the forums right now. Having a discreet 'thanks' system would just help reinforce the code of conduct this site has. Your system, however, would be tough to implement I would imagine.. and besides, the 'like' button is probably copyrighted by Facebook anyway.

[Cappuccinos]

If you were to keep the karma system, maybe have pre-set reasons to choose from instead of writing your own?
Like 'Helpful/Informative post thanks!' or 'Unnecessarily Rude/Offensive post' etc.  instead of  '...' or 'lol'  as reasons?
Maybe that would stop the unnecessary karma?

[iNerd]

If you were to keep the karma system, maybe have pre-set reasons to choose from instead of writing your own?
Like 'Helpful/Informative post thanks!' or 'Unnecessarily Rude/Offensive post' etc.  instead of  '...' or 'lol'  as reasons?
Maybe that would stop the unnecessary karma?

In an idealistic world - who's going to monitor the karma? A 'karma moderator'?

[werdna]

If you were to keep the karma system, maybe have pre-set reasons to choose from instead of writing your own?
Like 'Helpful/Informative post thanks!' or 'Unnecessarily Rude/Offensive post' etc.  instead of  '...' or 'lol'  as reasons?
Maybe that would stop the unnecessary karma?

Good idea! ATAR, there would be no need for a Karma Mod, because the pre-set options would already be 'reasonable' ones, because the admins would have chosen/made them.

[iNerd]

If you were to keep the karma system, maybe have pre-set reasons to choose from instead of writing your own?
Like 'Helpful/Informative post thanks!' or 'Unnecessarily Rude/Offensive post' etc.  instead of  '...' or 'lol'  as reasons?
Maybe that would stop the unnecessary karma?

Good idea! ATAR, there would be no need for a Karma Mod, because the pre-set options would already be 'reasonable' ones, because the admins would have chosen/made them.

Facepalm. Skim read over it, didn't see the pre-set. Actually an interesting idea...

[pi]

In light of ATAR's post (three posts ago)

Bringing in this from Mod Applications 2010:

Finishing VCE 2012

and i want to be the first ever specific, Troll Patrol mod, keeping things in order in that area, sort of like security
OR if not -
a Karma Alarma mod, making sure people are giving karma for the right reasons or not giving karma for the right reasons
 

The issue has been 'raised' before but no action was taken

[ninwa]

If you were to keep the karma system, maybe have pre-set reasons to choose from instead of writing your own?
Like 'Helpful/Informative post thanks!' or 'Unnecessarily Rude/Offensive post' etc.  instead of  '...' or 'lol'  as reasons?
Maybe that would stop the unnecessary karma?

I love this idea!

[iNerd]

If you were to keep the karma system, maybe have pre-set reasons to choose from instead of writing your own?
Like 'Helpful/Informative post thanks!' or 'Unnecessarily Rude/Offensive post' etc.  instead of  '...' or 'lol'  as reasons?
Maybe that would stop the unnecessary karma?

I love this idea!

This is a great idea but the topic has moved off from the hierarchy point.
You should combo the hidden shinny thing with the pre-set options so new members aren't influenced by karma.

[lexitu]

I love it too! Think it works well for those wanting to give a quick thank you and also gives more informative data on the sort of help people are giving. Obviously it could be abused but that's the same with anything. And people can still give a more meaningful thank you in the thread/PM if they wish. How hard do you think it will be to implement?

True, it has moved a bit off the hierarchy so your point of having it hidden could contribute to negating that.

[Cianyx]

In an idealistic world - who's going to monitor the karma? A 'karma moderator'?

Karma Police

What about people posting things that are not 'thanks' in reply to a particular post, eg 'thanks for that useless bit of info' or even simply '-1'. The topic would most certainly go off-topic after a negative response to a post. I think -ve karma wins in that area (less threads off-topic because of it being there)

How often really does that happen and what would stop it from happening in any other situation? Keep in mind, saying thanks is not a system. It's just basic human courtesy.

I've never seen the karma add-on as a necessary feature. I frequent a lot of forums (easily in the double digits) and virtually none of them feature a 'karma system'. Yet, all of the member manage to maintain a somewhat mutual respect for one another as well as forming a chain of seniority.

Moderator action: removed real name, sorry for the inconvenience

[burbs]

I remember Radiohead had a similar problem with monitoring karma

[Ghost!]

I love it too! Think it works well for those wanting to give a quick thank you and also gives more informative data on the sort of help people are giving. Obviously it could be abused but that's the same with anything. And people can still give a more meaningful thank you in the thread/PM if they wish. How hard do you think it will be to implement?

True, it has moved a bit off the hierarchy so your point of having it hidden could contribute to negating that.

I like this the idea of preselected reasons for giving karma is a great idea, but I'm surprised no one raised the possibility of people simply abusing the feature (except lex of course)

In the end people that just spam their friends with karma are just going to pick the reason randomly.

[werdna]

On second thoughts, I say just scrap the whole system. To replace the +ve karma-ing, we can just go by the norm and say different variants of 'thank you' messages within the thread. To replace the -ve karma-ing, there is already the 'report' button. This prevents small and meaningless quibbles from branching out to big, uncontrollable quibbles - so whenever we see a rude or offensive post, just report it, and leave it to the admins/mods to deal with I think. So, scrap the karma system because the alternative is already there - we don't need to implement anything new.

[Fyrefly]

tl;dr... I got bored after page two.

I like option three: leave karma visible, but ditch negative karma.

[vexx]

If you want to keep the novelty of the system, then just keep the + karma. The negatives create more trouble than they're worth. I've seen arguments break out unnecessarily over that crap -_-" I think the + karma is still a nice token to have though as it avoids having to flood the entire forum with 'Thanks' posts. Perhaps just hide the karma count from the left hand side and make it profile-viewable only?

/agreed.
I voted option 4- keep karma, get rid of negative, and make it profile page only rather than shown on threads. Though, I've never really been a big karma person anyway..

I remember Radiohead had a similar problem with monitoring karma

hahahaha