An Introduction to Karma

[darkdep]

One of the things you might notice on posts is everyone has a "Karma" counter under their name.

What is Karma?

On our forum, Karma is intended to be an overall indicator of the "helpfulness" of a user.  The idea is that if someone posts something that you find extremely useful, you "applaud" them which gives them +1 Karma.  If someone posts something you find offensive, you can "Smite" them, which takes away one Karma (-1).  Over time, you'll be able to see users with high Karma are ones to be trusted, and perhaps ones with negative karma's are ones to be questioned.

Here are a few FAQ's on the Karma system:


How do I applaud or smite someone?
Underneath their username beside the post you're dealing with, there will be two small buttons, [Applaud] and [Smite].  Click on them to applaud (+1 Karma) or smite (-1 Karma).  You can only Applaud or Smite a post once per hour, to prevent abuse.

How come I can't see the applaud or smite buttons?
You must have contributed a minimum of 25 posts to our forum before you can applaud or smite.  This is simply to ensure that those contributing to the Karma system are users that are active members and again, helps to prevent abuse.

How do I know who Applauded or Smited me?
You can't; not unless they tell you.  The Karma system is anonymous, on purpose.

I'm mad.  I got smited and I want to get back at those who smited me!
Relax.  Karma can be a fun and useful toy, but it should not be taken too seriously.  It is, mostly, a fun toy...keep that in mind

[Mettle]

I applauded you for posting this useful post - making clear what those buttons were all about and thus alleiviating some serious confusion on my part.   

[BigDaddy]

One thing that should also be noted about Karma

You can only perform an applaud or smite ONCE PER HOUR PER USER.

So, if I applaud darkdep for a post, I can not applaud him again for 1 hour.

This is designed to stop potential "abuse" of the system by limiting any one user's ability to modify a person (or persons) karma in one foul (or fair) stroke.

And again, it's mostly a simple add-on... we had fun smiting squeeker down to past -100 karma while the beta website was being tested.

[NjOyRiD]

this is a great idea! who tought of that so i can applaud him?