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captain normal writes:
An essay by Robert W.Lucky in IEEE Spectrum, 'Who is the Crowd?', discusses how the internet has provided the means for many people to contribute to knowledge.
From the essay:
I look at my computer screen and imagine all the murmuring voices behind it, clamoring for attention. There is almost a mystical presence out there, not from aliens but from something almost as thrilling and unexpected--a new presence that has been brought about as a consequence of the enveloping architecture of the Internet.
...
The crowd has wisdom, knowing things that may not be known to individuals. It has sentiments, beliefs, and feelings that can be abstracted and analyzed. Moreover, it has the power to affect the real physical world...Small armies of volunteers and paid contributors can be assembled on a moment's notice to work on projects.
I find this very much like this current project here on SoylentNews. This is a 'Crowd' thing. Not a top down organization like the old 19th ~ 20th century organization model."
(Score: 4, Insightful) by martyb on Thursday February 20 2014, @10:12PM
I think one of the things that sets this site apart is the sense of ownership.
People tend to fear losing what they've put effort into obtaining. That's not an absolute, by any means. But in general, I've observed that to be true for most people.
So it seems to me, that one of the ways to keep this site's momentum going is to keep contributors "invested". It's a pretty silly thing, in some respects, but I mind what I do and am rewarded by watching my Karma increase. That's a nice little feedback loop.
For an example, consider World of Warcraft. They nailed it with "Levels". A reward for putting in work, that the user does not want to lose. There is a risk that they may "die" in battle, but there are countervailing resources available. The "reward" is to be able to advance to the next level.
This site is, in some ways, a humongous "game" where the context is fluid (news of the day) and the reward is karma. I can only get karma if I register, but that act allows me to set up the appearance of the site the way I like it. The karma, in turn, has value in that it will allow me to post at +2, if I so desire. What other benefits does karma give me? Does anyone know?
Then there were the achievements that got added on, later. I think that was an attempt at something more, with a range of easy, simple stuff to get folks started, and more challenging tasks down the line. The problem, as I saw it, was that the achievements were mostly hidden from others. If there were a way to include these as part of people's posts (much like a military officer's "badges"), then I think they might have gained wider interest.
Are these sufficient for the long haul to keep the community interested and invested? I honestly don't know. There needs to be some scarcity to make it valuable, but if things only *accumulate* over time, then there's the risk that everything eventually gets maxed out, and these "tokens" are no longer scarce, and thus not of value.
Maybe it needs some time-based factor that automatically drops off? As an example, off the top of my head: "Received an Insightful Mod in the last month."
So, what do you think? Am I headed down the right path with this? What's good? What's missing?
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by monster on Friday February 21 2014, @08:01AM
I think the real motivation for karma is not so much to get the +2 status as the feeling of crowd approvation to our opinions and knowledge, and with it getting a feeling of integration in the group (we are social animals, after all). Take some kind of knowledge about some obscure topic, for example: You may be pretty sure about its validity, but since your opinion may be biased (even if you don't know it) and based on a special subset of cases, contrasting it with other opinions in an informed crowd may achieve two results:
- Other people agree with it. You get one or several positive karma moderations (interesting, insightful, informative) and the positive feedback reinforces your feelings about it.
- Other people disagree with you. You may get some negative karma moderations (even if there isn't a "-1 I disagree" moderation, it is sometimes used that way) but most probably you will get contrasting opinions and facts which you can now use to make your knowledge wider and deeper, discard the wrong bits and better inform you.
But all of it depends in one key aspect of the crowd: It must be not only informed but diverse and tolerant enough to allow discrepance and debate. If it is not the case, all you get is an echo chamber where your preconceptions get reinforced time after time, no matter how wrong they are, because of 'groupthink'.
(Score: 1) by hubie on Friday February 21 2014, @04:50PM
My view is more jaded than yours. I don't see karma points much differently than any other mark that a good deal of people use as a yardstick for status. Go to the thousands of bulletin board web sites running Simple Machines or other software and most of them make sure to list the post count under each account name, and there are howls of protests if anyone suggests that post counts not be listed. I wonder how many people set up accounts over here as quickly as they could just so that they could get the lowest UID possible? Maybe that wasn't their sole motivation, but you can't tell me it wasn't figured in, especially since low UID has always been held in high esteem over on Slashdot. Besides the usual tolling remarks, many people also post unpopular opinions under an AC account so that they don't "hurt" their karma status and thus reduce their perceived standing in the community. I've seen some people who are proud of their bad karma because, to them, it validates their opinion of themselves as being one who doesn't bow to conformity and they aren't afraid to tell the truth and be "keepin' it real."
In general, whenever you give someone some way of ranking themselves withing a group, it will be used that way.