Shouldn’t we instead be attempting to make ourselves more useful to the community?
That’s the thing. Controlling things with ‘shoulds’ is unstable without the presence of real consequences, social or otherwise. Anonymous internet forums do not have these real consequences naturually, which is what gives Karma a purpose. It is a way to allow social control and influence with the minimum of overhead and perceived oppression.
Right. The whole point is that what karma really controls for is appearing useful to the community, not being useful to the community.
I agree that it has a purpose, and that we’re better off with it. I don’t think it’s sufficient on its own, and we shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that obsessing over it is the same as focusing on improving the community. At best, it improves only a small aspect of the community; at worst, the subgoal “think about karma and get points” takes over at the expense of all else.
That’s the thing. Controlling things with ‘shoulds’ is unstable without the presence of real consequences, social or otherwise. Anonymous internet forums do not have these real consequences naturually, which is what gives Karma a purpose. It is a way to allow social control and influence with the minimum of overhead and perceived oppression.
Right. The whole point is that what karma really controls for is appearing useful to the community, not being useful to the community.
I agree that it has a purpose, and that we’re better off with it. I don’t think it’s sufficient on its own, and we shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that obsessing over it is the same as focusing on improving the community. At best, it improves only a small aspect of the community; at worst, the subgoal “think about karma and get points” takes over at the expense of all else.