JJ's Tech Tales: Karma-by-Proxy
#1
One of the largest social media sites I knew of just closed its doors earlier this year, and I couldn't help but remembering one of its most widely-unpopular features (and one that many of its members regard as a key point on its eventual downfall): karma-by-proxy.

Because the site was so unbelievably huge (it was the number one stop for people south of the United States, even having a Portuguese version for Brazilian users), it also had a ton of trolls and ban-dodgers. These were quite vicious and could quite literally ruin it for everyone else, so the site put forth a bit of a half-baked karma system in which members could decide who could comment on their posts, based on karma and user levels (from Troll to Great User). This was all fine and well, but the problem was on HOW these ranks were decided: you could get a greater rank by making valuable contributions (of course), but the system went both ways and you could also have karma and points taken away from you, but not always as a result of your own actions... or, at least, not your direct actions.

If you, say, were to like or give points to a post that would be later deleted by a mod, then your karma would suffer as a result, giving you a penalty equal or greater to the points you gave... and on a site known for widespread trolling, posts were deleted left and right all the time, often for no reason at all. This actually pushed people to stop rewarding their fellow members with points and karma, understanding that it was more of a gamble than a token of appreciation.

Couple that with the fact that the site completely did away with its own identity by adding and incorporating features straight out of Facebook and Twitter and, well, the writing was on the wall.

I hadn't been a member of that place for over a decade by the time they announced its closing, but I was told that it was less than a shell of its former self towards it... and how could it not? The classic members had all moved on and the new ones were still trying to figure out a system with no rules.

Ironically, the dagger to its heart wasn't that... sure, that annoyed the regulars greatly, but the sudden ban on all downloads completely stumped the casuals and those who would frequent the site just to get the latest game or something. Combining both things, however, proved too much for the site to tank.

Thoughts?
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#2
Yeah, I can understand the logic behind the system - but, I can definitely see it having a snowball effect, where banning one user annoys all the people who had given karma to them, and causes them to drift away as well. (And even if many of the users who get banned are trolls, there will be some legitimate users who get banned too!)

Not something I've ever come across in the English-speaking world; however, I feel like there's a reason for that :lol: .
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