Negative karma messages

Recently, a seller sent a karma message that was funny because of the seller's obvious incompetence in saying what they looked like they were trying to say, a vague threat about 'slander': " Slander, harassment, and deformation of character is not looked upon lightly."

What made it relevant is that it looked to be a tool to try to hush the recipients BOI comments; what made it additionally relevant is that the same message was sent to several people who opposed the seller's actions on the BOI.

The karma comment was repeated in the BOI, and comments made, and opinions formed about the seller using such tactics. Until several people wrote about the comments they received, no one realized that the karma system seemed to have been used as a tool to attempt to silence posters in the BOI.

Fortunately, there are those here who are not easily silenced. But is the attempt by the seller to quash conversation about the seller a BOI relevant subject?

Such comments can always be forwarded to moderators for their consideration. But my own opinion is that private comments whether karma or pm, used as attempts to influence, are relevant as an additional pieces of information in assessing whether to do business with a seller.

For the record, it was not your initial post that spurred my comment. It was the string of people chiming in about how they got negative karma.
Since you're talking about karma being used as a tool to attempt to silence people, does it not bear consideration that the tool was broken before it was even wielded? A person with a negative karma score simply cannot impact anybody else's karma. They can go through the motions, and submit it; but, since they have no karma power, there is nothing to deduct from the recipient. (That's why everybody's karma message showed a grey box, as opposed to a red one.)

Originally Posted by hhmoore

For the record, it was not your initial post that spurred my comment. It was the string of people chiming in about how they got negative karma.
Since you're talking about karma being used as a tool to attempt to silence people, does it not bear consideration that the tool was broken before it was even wielded? A person with a negative karma score simply cannot impact anybody else's karma. They can go through the motions, and submit it; but, since they have no karma power, there is nothing to deduct from the recipient. (That's why everybody's karma message showed a grey box, as opposed to a red one.)

Harald,

It is not the karma itself, it is the content of the comments that I am referencing. And those chiming in provided information, that this seller was attempting to silence them with the seller's ludicrous threat of 'slander' the same as the seller tried to silence me. The threat was not the red or gray box, the threat was the reference, however ludicrous, to legal action.

Harald please understand that I respect what you think, and I ask that you consider whether sometimes the karma system can be misused, and am simply asking that you consider whether the attempt to misuse it to silence those who post their opinion about a particular seller is a BOI worthy subject.

I have deliberately included no names here out of respect for the board's rule that BOI subjects be kept in the BOI.

Generally speaking these frivolous lawsuit threats are a lot of "bark" but no "bite". Most people don't realize the expense such a lawsuit would cost them to pursue, even if they could get an attorney interested in taking a case of that nature. Quite honestly, people who have to defraud their customers (and I am not accusing anyone of doing so, just making a general statement) so they can keep their nickle and dime ill gotten gains are not going to have anywhere near the amount of money it would take to launch a real lawsuit.

Apparently many people use the phrase "I'm contacting my attorney", much like children will say "I'm telling my mommy!".

My question is whether such threats are relevant in assessing a seller. I think they are, and I think that mentioning that a seller has done this is an acceptable piece of information on the BOI, whether it was done via karma or PM.

Whether or not something like that is a harmless bark, it says something about a seller, I think, that they would go privately bark at one poster after another. I would not want to deal with someone who threatened to call their mommy every time things were not going their way.

Saying 'so-and-so gave me bad karma' may be a waste of bandwidth and not an acceptable use of the BOI. But saying 'so-and-so threatened a lawsuit because they didn't like what I said' is worthy of mention, IMHO, as an indication of what kind of person the seller is, even if done as a karma comment.

I understand what you're saying Lucille. It's not the karma or the comment left with it, but what you might consider the reason behind it, an attempt (albeit a poor one) at getting people to quit posting to the thread, and whether this action is worthy of mention on the BOI.

My personal opinion, not necessarily that of the site or the other mods, is yes it is worth mentioning in an already existing bad guy thread. It's a childish tactic that smacks of desperation, and to me at least, further suggests the bad guy thread was warranted.
However, the problem is any mention of karma in a BOI thread almost always results in the thread being derailed for a time talking about that.
It's impossible to quantify under which conditions it's worthy of mention and when it is not. Kind of like the congressional definition of porn, you know it when you see it.

I can also see this activity as being worthy of a reprimand for abuse of the karma system, especially had he actually been able to affect people's karma score.
That is an even bigger gray area though that can only be taken on a case by case basis. There is no standard by which to judge karma abuse, and it is unlikely that there would ever be one as it is an area where we rarely get involved and when we do it's reluctantly.

I can accept that reasoning and well put, Clay
After thinking about what you wrote, I agree this is almost always a case-by-case type of decision.

Originally Posted by lucille

I ask that you consider whether sometimes the karma system can be misused, and am simply asking that you consider whether the attempt to misuse it to silence those who post their opinion about a particular seller is a BOI worthy subject.

Of course the karma system can be misused....as can the Report Post function. I did consider your rationale, which is why I offered my previous response. Perhaps I did fall too easily into an oft stated remark; but, even when the original comments are relevant, when it becomes a series of he gave me negative karma, too and a discussion of whether it impacted anybody's numbers, it quickly deteriorates to the same ol same ol.

Originally Posted by hhmoore

Of course the karma system can be misused....as can the Report Post function. I did consider your rationale, which is why I offered my previous response. Perhaps I did fall too easily into an oft stated remark; but, even when the original comments are relevant, when it becomes a series of he gave me negative karma, too and a discussion of whether it impacted anybody's numbers, it quickly deteriorates to the same ol same ol.

You sent me a private message stating that my signature at the time was a problem. I was making boi posts on other threads not relevant to that forum(Because of my signature.) I wanted to ask you how to change my signature so that i do not get warning or infractions but still effectively warn new members. Your inbox was full.

Anyway the only reason I wanted to use signatures that way, is because I saw you and others with Good Guy certification links in your signature. It does the exact same thing that my signature did. Except yours is to make new customers feel comfortable working with someone based on their history. My signature was doing the same thing, only to warn people about businesses.

So indirectly, you and several other members are making irrelevant Board of Index posts every time you post or private message. Which just happens to be the same thing that I did.

I do not understand the substance behind a rule like that. If Board of Index is not supposed to be pulled all throughout the forums, why is it in your and other members signature? You don't have answer this. I just wanted you to know, that YOU were the example I followed in changing my signature. This move is what ultimately got me a warning.

Thank you for reading. Happy Holidays Fauna!

Originally Posted by alvincent

You sent me a private message stating that my signature at the time was a problem. I was making boi posts on other threads not relevant to that forum(Because of my signature.) I wanted to ask you how to change my signature so that i do not get warning or infractions but still effectively warn new members. Your inbox was full.

Anyway the only reason I wanted to use signatures that way, is because I saw you and others with Good Guy certification links in your signature. It does the exact same thing that my signature did. Except yours is to make new customers feel comfortable working with someone based on their history. My signature was doing the same thing, only to warn people about businesses.

So indirectly, you and several other members are making irrelevant Board of Index posts every time you post or private message. Which just happens to be the same thing that I did.

I do not understand the substance behind a rule like that. If Board of Index is not supposed to be pulled all throughout the forums, why is it in your and other members signature? You don't have answer this. I just wanted you to know, that YOU were the example I followed in changing my signature. This move is what ultimately got me a warning.

Thank you for reading. Happy Holidays Fauna!

GG signatures is are self-explanatory...those with the GGC in their signatures are speaking of THEMSELVES and not "bad-mouthing" another member. BOI topics are to stay inside the BOI...(those signatures go everywhere on the forum, including outside the BOI, remember?)

Hope this helped?