Karmageddon: players react to karma being stripped from two threads
In April 2016 an admin tool removed karma gained in the Travel and Plushie threads. A General Discussion thread filled with complaints, support and replies from officers and an admin.
Involved: LDP [1580562] , IceBlueFire [776] Officer , bogie [148747] Admin , mug [553318] Committee , Wollongong [12833] and 3 more
A thread named Karmageddon
LDP [1580562] opened "Karmageddon" in General Discussion on 21 Apr 2016, asking for opinions on the karma changes and whether they affected readers.[1][2]
The thread ran until 17 Jul 2016. It reached 359 replies and 4,262 views, with 123 different players posting. Seventeen of the posts came from staff, officers or moderators.[2]
What was removed
A post by TrAsH_FiSh [692571] quoted an explanation of the change. It said an admin tool had been created to strip karma gains and block future karma on the Travel thread and the Plushie thread, and that a committee poll was 94% in favour.[3]
The quoted explanation said the tool could be used on other threads later. It said karma gained by farming rather than for quality content was the reason for acting.[3]
Satangel [60043] said they lost 900 karma and asked for upvotes to get back to VIP. ImWoman [693575] said they lost over 700 but were not mad. PatBenatar [420347] said the loss was 100 points. Participant claim[4][5][6]
Scootaloo [1590427] called it a stupid update and described 1k karma as an arbitrary finishing line for VIP. They said the change only delayed the inevitable. Participant claim[7]
Objections and support
Gorgonzola [1300528] said the travel thread posters provided a valuable service and were thanked with karma. They did not expect a reversal after a 94% committee vote. Participant claim[8]
PatBenatar [420347] alleged that the two threads were examined because 95% of committee members are in the VIP section. They repeatedly asked whether VIP forums gain or lose karma and asked Ched to restore the karma. Allegation[9][10]
Kingstown [1957679] called the claim that two topics are inferior to the rest of the forum arbitrary nonsense. Participant claim[11]
Wollongong [12833] said they voted in favour, and would have gone further. They described karma as having become a meaningless number shaped by manipulation and playing the system. Participant claim[12]
ReyDuvall [1526820] argued that karma should not mostly come from running flowers and plushies. Harley [258120] said they liked the update because it gave a less skewed number. Participant claim[13][14]
dESTROYS [67441] suggested there should be a merit for 1,000 karma. Joke[15]
Officers and an admin reply
IceBlueFire [776], an officer/committee member, replied several times. They wrote that flower and plushie runners were not adding anything useful to the forums other than to each other. They also said the tool was chosen after going in circles over the best way to deal with insignificant posts.[16][17]
IceBlueFire [776] answered the VIP suspicion sarcastically. They said they paid no attention to the VIP forum and called it a bigger troll fest than any sub forum.[18]
bogie [148747], listed as Torn staff (Admin), wrote that they had mixed feelings when the idea was proposed. They called it a step in the right direction. They said the simplest change affecting the fewest people was chosen.[19]
mug [553318], an officer/committee member, wrote that the travel thread is very useful. They called karma worthless because people use the up and down votes carelessly, and said the change would make karma a little less worthless.[20]
Afterwards
On 23 Apr 2016 Wollongong [12833] started "Discussion on making Karma matter" in General Discussion. It asked posters to keep talk of the measures to the Karmageddon thread. The thread reached 100 replies.[21][22]
Posts continued into July 2016. dunmugmeh [538353] said the forums would be in a bad state if karma actually did something. Participant claim[23]
Timeline
- 21 Apr 2016 LDP [1580562] opens "Karmageddon"; replies include complaints, support and posts from an admin and officers.[1][16][19]
- 21 Apr 2016 A post quotes the explanation of the karma-stripping tool for the Travel and Plushie threads, with a committee poll of 94% in favour.[3]
- 23 Apr 2016 Wollongong [12833] starts a related thread on making karma meaningful.[21][22]
- 17 Jul 2016 Last posts in the Karmageddon thread.[23][24]
Original sources 24
- Post by LDP [1580562] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Thread "Karmageddon" (General Discussion) ·
- Post by TrAsH_FiSh [692571] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by Satangel [60043] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by ImWoman [693575] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by PatBenatar [420347] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by Scootaloo [1590427] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by Gorgonzola [1300528] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by PatBenatar [420347] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by PatBenatar [420347] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by Kingstown [1957679] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by Wollongong [12833] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by ReyDuvall [1526820] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by Harley [258120] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by dESTROYS [67441] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by IceBlueFire [776] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by IceBlueFire [776] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by IceBlueFire [776] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by bogie [148747] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by mug [553318] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by Wollongong [12833] in "Discussion on making Karma matter" ·
- Thread "Discussion on making Karma matter" (General Discussion) ·
- Post by dunmugmeh [538353] in "Karmageddon" ·
- Post by Mavvy [99750] in "Karmageddon" ·
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