And since the benefits of karma have already received attention ad nauseum all over the site...
Reputation systems work, no doubt. The effects might be desirable, or feel desirable. But I don’t see that being the case for communities where honesty, skepticism and general openness should play a large role. There is a problem in judging the effectiveness of reputation systems from the inside, especially if you are one of the trend-setters. You might perceive everyone to be on topic and polite, their submissions to be well-thought-out. The reason for that perception might be the reputation system but that doesn’t make it true that it also caused people to be honest and less wrong.
If it did, I couldn’t be a loud deontologist and come in third on the entire blog, as one salient example. In fact, most of my comments professing deontology have been upvoted.
First of all, you are a little star here due to your fiction. People follow your submissions directly, mostly people who already agree with you or like your fiction. A lot of comments will receive upvotes due to special interest groups while many who would disagree won’t even read it or don’t care to downvote them. What you said is no evidence of the success of the karma system.
What I am trying to say is that reputation systems can alter the territory to fit the map. Reputation systems are augmented reality layers for beliefs.
First of all, you are a little star here due to your fiction. People follow your submissions directly, mostly people who already agree with you or like your fiction.
Um, what? Setting aside the cutesy pseudocompliment “little star”, I started Luminosity last summer. I was already third on the top contributors list before that, if I recall correctly, and the fiction I was doing before Luminosity was and remains obscure and unpopular, received and continues to receive approximately no attention on LW, etc.
Thanks for the English lesson.
Reputation systems work, no doubt. The effects might be desirable, or feel desirable. But I don’t see that being the case for communities where honesty, skepticism and general openness should play a large role. There is a problem in judging the effectiveness of reputation systems from the inside, especially if you are one of the trend-setters. You might perceive everyone to be on topic and polite, their submissions to be well-thought-out. The reason for that perception might be the reputation system but that doesn’t make it true that it also caused people to be honest and less wrong.
First of all, you are a little star here due to your fiction. People follow your submissions directly, mostly people who already agree with you or like your fiction. A lot of comments will receive upvotes due to special interest groups while many who would disagree won’t even read it or don’t care to downvote them. What you said is no evidence of the success of the karma system.
What I am trying to say is that reputation systems can alter the territory to fit the map. Reputation systems are augmented reality layers for beliefs.
Um, what? Setting aside the cutesy pseudocompliment “little star”, I started Luminosity last summer. I was already third on the top contributors list before that, if I recall correctly, and the fiction I was doing before Luminosity was and remains obscure and unpopular, received and continues to receive approximately no attention on LW, etc.