Well, here is how I have the karma (used to be known as the "reputation system", but that caused some people heartburn around here a while back) system set up right now.
Obviously there are a lot of different ways to manage this function, depending on how I wish to have it utilized, and what I believe it should reflect.
I believe the goal should be to acknowledge members who have been here an extended period of time, and as well, there should be some acknowledgement of those members who have already contributed a fair number of posts on this site. Another criteria is that is someone has been accumulating a number of karma points, then perhaps that should also be some sort of indication of the weight they have in this system.
Sure, I could set all the options so that everyone would only have 2 points (meaning negative karma would give 1 point), but that would then completely negate the above mentioned criteria used within the system. This is great for newbies, but sort of socks long time members here who have spent a lot of time posting quality info right square on the chin, doesn't it?
Obviously I rarely use the karma system myself, and the real reason I have the weighting so high for myself, is that I have found that the easiest and quickest way to neutralize someone who is abusing the karma system is by giving them so much negative karma that it would make their karma grants not affect anyone else's values, and also take them a LONG time to dig out of that hole I have thrown them into. Of course, I would have to adjust that number over time to keep pace with the values that members will accumulate over the years.
Everything is a compromise of some sort. Certainly I never expected to please everyone with what I have chosen to do, but that's pretty much par for the course around here. Sure, I could raise the number of karmas to four (4). Then in a few months I would have people saying "If ONLY we could have SIX, then that would be perfect..."... You know how that goes...
Obviously there are a lot of different ways to manage this function, depending on how I wish to have it utilized, and what I believe it should reflect.
I believe the goal should be to acknowledge members who have been here an extended period of time, and as well, there should be some acknowledgement of those members who have already contributed a fair number of posts on this site. Another criteria is that is someone has been accumulating a number of karma points, then perhaps that should also be some sort of indication of the weight they have in this system.
Sure, I could set all the options so that everyone would only have 2 points (meaning negative karma would give 1 point), but that would then completely negate the above mentioned criteria used within the system. This is great for newbies, but sort of socks long time members here who have spent a lot of time posting quality info right square on the chin, doesn't it?
Obviously I rarely use the karma system myself, and the real reason I have the weighting so high for myself, is that I have found that the easiest and quickest way to neutralize someone who is abusing the karma system is by giving them so much negative karma that it would make their karma grants not affect anyone else's values, and also take them a LONG time to dig out of that hole I have thrown them into. Of course, I would have to adjust that number over time to keep pace with the values that members will accumulate over the years.
Everything is a compromise of some sort. Certainly I never expected to please everyone with what I have chosen to do, but that's pretty much par for the course around here. Sure, I could raise the number of karmas to four (4). Then in a few months I would have people saying "If ONLY we could have SIX, then that would be perfect..."... You know how that goes...
