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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: 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.