I’m dubious about public votes. Anonymous and unaccountable has problems, but I don’t think actual karma counts turn out to be wildly unreasonable.
Public karma votes would probably lead to long quarrels about which votes are reasonable and to (more?) karma coalitions.
I’m not sure whether it’s obvious here, but I’m rather conflict-averse, which means that a public vote system would make me less likely to downvote the more aggressive comments and posts.
Does anyone have experience with a public vote system? How did it work out?
A “public vote system” has been used for centuries in standard deliberative process. You go to a Town Meeting and think that a question should not be considered, and you so move, and that is subject to immediate and very public vote. Private voting systems have been used and often have an abusive effect. Such systems, in standard process, when allowed, generally require a supermajority. Elections are an exception, where secret ballots are standard.
Much comment here seems to assume yes/no on “private.” It’s possible to collect data on “impressions” that is private, and it is not necessarily abusive. It can become abusive when this is used in a fixed decision-making system.
The karma system is quite popular, and the way it works should not, ideally, be damaged by “improvements.” Improvements may address the ways that it does not work, and there are a number.. There are many good ideas in this thread. Some of them, implemented raw, could do harm. Hence the need for discussion and the development of informed consensus, which can be very different from raw, knee-jerk consensus. Such raw consensus can be used to develop starting points, and is worthy of respect, but not worship.
Otherwise a community is vulnerable to cascades and to confirmation bias.
Standard deliberative process uses committee systems for topics not ready for full consideration and vote. The conversations take place in small groups, where brainstorming may be more open and less harmful, and, ideally, all significant points of view are represented in those groups. Distributed communication is essential for sound and efficient social process.
I’m dubious about public votes. Anonymous and unaccountable has problems, but I don’t think actual karma counts turn out to be wildly unreasonable.
Public karma votes would probably lead to long quarrels about which votes are reasonable and to (more?) karma coalitions.
I’m not sure whether it’s obvious here, but I’m rather conflict-averse, which means that a public vote system would make me less likely to downvote the more aggressive comments and posts.
Does anyone have experience with a public vote system? How did it work out?
A “public vote system” has been used for centuries in standard deliberative process. You go to a Town Meeting and think that a question should not be considered, and you so move, and that is subject to immediate and very public vote. Private voting systems have been used and often have an abusive effect. Such systems, in standard process, when allowed, generally require a supermajority. Elections are an exception, where secret ballots are standard.
Much comment here seems to assume yes/no on “private.” It’s possible to collect data on “impressions” that is private, and it is not necessarily abusive. It can become abusive when this is used in a fixed decision-making system.
The karma system is quite popular, and the way it works should not, ideally, be damaged by “improvements.” Improvements may address the ways that it does not work, and there are a number.. There are many good ideas in this thread. Some of them, implemented raw, could do harm. Hence the need for discussion and the development of informed consensus, which can be very different from raw, knee-jerk consensus. Such raw consensus can be used to develop starting points, and is worthy of respect, but not worship.
Otherwise a community is vulnerable to cascades and to confirmation bias.
Standard deliberative process uses committee systems for topics not ready for full consideration and vote. The conversations take place in small groups, where brainstorming may be more open and less harmful, and, ideally, all significant points of view are represented in those groups. Distributed communication is essential for sound and efficient social process.