The 'Karma' Feature

[SoulRevenge]

If I'm not mistaken, we all know what Karma is. You get another one if someone nuzzles you, ya lose one when they bite,...

Well, I have a positive and negative opinion about this. I suppose I'll begin with the Positive though XDD.


The number of Karma on a user may show that they're rather trust-worthy and popular within the forums. It also usually means that they are expirienced members which are usually able to help you if you have any problems.

Now, this is the downside of the whole feature- the negative part.



Low Karma, such as anything beyond -5 actually, may show a bad impression on another user. While, without this feature you could take the time to learn to know this member, then 'judge' them, now with the feature still intact most people would just glance at they're Karma, and judge them by that number.



I wasn't sure weither or not to put this in the Input box- I probaly should of but I'm not exactly sure, but this is my opinion on the Karma feature.

Really, what I'm saying is that I want it gone, or, this would also please the people that use the feature and enjoy it-

Possibly letting one have the ability to disable and able it? Disabling it would make your Karma invisable to other users, until you able it.

[Redlinelies]

This discussion have been up several times on the forum in the past, but also the same suggestion has been given. The problem with this suggestion that it's not possible to set up due to limited customization. Either it's opt in, or out for everyone. We even had a forum poll a while back asking if we should keep it or not, and as it seemed then even with the issues we used to have, users voted for.

Now I do understand why some would want this function removed, and it could be due to abuse and no one would really want to have negative karma on their profile, but in all honesty this issue of users abusing the karma system has been drastically reduced due to some recent changes of who and when you are able to bite/nuzzle.

There has been some discussions(more for funsies), to change this whole karma idea to another word like "Floof" just to change the meaning around some making it less familiar back in the users head. But as it goes with any sort of gain/loss function in general, users want and feel good if they manage to get that little nuzzle, but it's always something.

In general I can see just as many users unhappy with it gone as those that might not like it around and in person, I'd be a bit conservative regarding this since we've been running this function since the launch of the forum and it has gotten a lot better compared to how it used to look.

[liomangeoleo]

i always kive a "nuzzle" karma to members in the intro section that intro themselves and they took the time to try to mingle and get to know the community and i applaude them for that

[Moonwolf678]

Well I think I set the world record for most negative karma In feral heart. It's still dropping! I'm hated by so many people! Heck yeah! i would love the karma thing removed! its making people judge me!

[RawSyndicate]

Oi yes, i totally agree with this idea, as you can see i have low karma, and all ive done is help people xD I do not think there is a way people can shut it off... although, they may be able to set the karma to make sure it cant go lower then 0. This could solve some problems within the forums. ^^

~Rawy

[Kyugima]

Well I think I set the world record for most negative karma In feral heart. It's still dropping! I'm hated by so many people! Heck yeah! i would love the karma thing removed! its making people judge me!

Your Karma is probably going down because of your comment on the thread about the sexual behavior, telling the "rapists" to keep doing what they want and that people can't stop them. That's always an excellent way to lose your karma.

Also the person with the lowest Karma I believe has over -70 karma, after sending death threats to people in a group that didn't accept her purple dog into a realistic pack.

[liomangeoleo]

well to me it seems like an unfair judgement on people say for example they have an argument on the forum and one of the people decide the next few weeks to give -karma thats 14 days of negitivity when that person has done nothing wrong to anyone else but 1 person can destroy the rep so it looks bad to everyone else and you cant even tell who is doing it or why so a troll can come on make a fake account and give 57 people negitive karma each day and no one will know who is doing it

[Redlinelies]

You cannot bite or nuzzle as you could before. Not only do you need to be registered, but you also need a certain post count before getting this option. So making fake accounts to abuse it will not work.

[Jitters]

Just to share, if you suspect a certain person or group of people are attacking your Karma, you can always talk to a mod or admin. Back before I was a mod I had my karma attacked by a certain individual and the mod team was very efficient at solving the problem and putting in place new safeguards to prevent it from happening again.

[EvilSock]

I've never liked this feature.

It's only purpose, in my POV, is to stroke people's egos. It differentiates people in most users' eyes, just by looking at their karma to assess their standing with the community; and judging them accordingly.

I'm not sure about everyone else, but I'd prefer it if everyone was equal. Some users, upon being 'attacked', may not decide to report. They may even become intimidated, and stay off the forums all together because of it.

I'm also curious about Tigg's profile. As far as I can see, there is no karma option. I'm unfamiliar with this forum base, so I'm unaware of how things work. But if a user is having their karma 'attacked' - couldn't they opt for the same profile as Tigg, upon 'special' request, or am I missing something here?