Change in karma ratings

just get rid of the karma altogether and it won't be a headache. :-)

Originally Posted by WebSlave

I really don't understand how the karma options work, but I just made some changes, and it appears many people have "karma power" right now, which gives them the ability to give others karma points for their posts. But I'm not sure I like the way the options are set up, especially when I utilize the option to give members more power for a set number of karma points they have received. This can have a snow balling effect, which is what I think happened earlier. I guess in some respects this would be a logical way of doing it, but it is also a way to allow some substantial abuse unless it is monitored.

Quite honestly, it is difficult to set this up whereby it is fair both to members who have been here a long time and posted a lot of posts as well as newbies who certainly should be able to participate in this manner. It sets the site up whereby it could be extremely unfair to new members.

I don't envy you at all Rich! You certainly are living up to your username today though, aren't you?

I noticed that Deb, for example, has Karma power of 10 but when you click her green dots, she's an unkown entity. I'm Karma power of 6 but when you click on my green dot have that range that starts with 150 - 249. Is that also related to contributor level, perhaps?

Edit - hmmm, that can't be it - Adrian's reputation level is Unknown Entity, but Karma Power of 10 and not a contributor.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

members who have been here a long time and posted a lot of posts

One would think that those people have posted here for years because they love the site, reptiles, or both. Their rewards are the people they have come to know and the knowledge they have gained from the site.
I say, just zero everything out.

Not me. I hate everyone. I'm in it for the green dots.

Originally Posted by rabernet

I noticed that Deb, for example, has Karma power of 10 but when you click her green dots, she's an unkown entity. I'm Karma power of 6 but when you click on my green dot have that range that starts with 150 - 249. Is that also related to contributor level, perhaps?

Edit - hmmm, that can't be it - Adrian's reputation level is Unknown Entity, but Karma Power of 10 and not a contributor.

There is no rhyme or reason to the numbers anymore from what I see.

On my end of the screen when I hover over my green dot i see I have a range of 150-249 with a power level of 10.

Webslave has a range of 450-549 and Karma power level of 10, but Harald has a range of 2500+ and power level of 69 LOL.

Lakesideboas has a power level of 12 but like Harald has a range of 2500+.

Mooing has a powerlevel of 40 and a range of 1500 - 2499.

Cheryl has a power level of 19 and a range of 2500+

Deborah who is an endowment member has a power level of 10 but the range just has it listed as an unknown quantity.

Karma power and karma points are two different things. Kind of.....

The karma "power" is determined by a formula I have in the admin section that determines have that power is derived.

Right now, here's how I have the options set:



I believe when I changed those options it changed the values of the karma power for each member, but that may not be the case. Why members STILL have karma points just beats me, because my programmer said he cleared them all this morning. But since all this programming and server stuff is just voodoo and smoke and mirrors kind of crap, anything is possible, I guess.

As for me dropping this karma stuff completely, I'm hoping it gives people incentive to post here, and along those lines, post material that they hope people will appreciate and give them karma points for. Will it be abused? Probably, but with my latest policy of abusing the abusers and not the tools they use, hopefully people will get the hint (from outside) that such things are going to be frowned upon here.

It probably recalculated everyone after it was set to zero. Or at what ever time the day turns over for the server. Makes sense since people with a higher post count seem to have a little more rep power then the rest.

Just a thought. Not that I'm hip to such things. LOL

Originally Posted by WebSlave

I believe when I changed those options it changed the values of the karma power for each member, but that may not be the case. Why members STILL have karma points just beats me, because my programmer said he cleared them all this morning. But since all this programming and server stuff is just voodoo and smoke and mirrors kind of crap, anything is possible, I guess.

All I can say is that when I logged on this morning, I had 0 karma points, and one green bar (but mousing over still showed a reputation level of 2500+).
At some point in the day, I went up to 69...I wasn't really paying attention to the time, though

Ummmm, Rich - you're looking a little weak in the Rep Power and points area. Want me to set up one of those karma bombs from a while back to help you out?

Yeah, but he's got a bunch of green dots.