Not sure if this is a showerthought, but it popped into my head randomly due to anothe member’s comment that “karma farming isn’t a thing here.” It kinda is…just not as blatant and open as Reddit. If the instances grow in size and number it could become a real thing, we’d have the same issues as Reddit with huge numbers of bots, shills, and karma whoring users.

What if every year we zero out Lemmy points but replace them with a [insert thing here: colored bars?] that maybe qualitatively show positive post and comment levels and sort of show “years of service”?

Get rid of the incentive for points accumulation, but denote consistent positive contribution?

Edit: or leave the comment/post points as the are, but make them only tally a rolling 365 day count and participation in the last 30/60/90 or similar. Continued participation would be obvious, but no substantial amount could ever be collected.

If the points aren’t worth anything, then why would it matter if they change or go away?

E2: welp. People think it isn’t a problem, and they say it will not be. Can’t argue with a position that demands Lemmy/fediverse remain static in its present form. Discussion closed, I guess.

  • Brewchin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    Haha, I recognise myself in OP’s comment, I think. I was soundly downboated for my comment. 😄

    Internet points are the objective for some people, regardless of the platform or meaning. I’m usually reluctant to tell someone they’re having fun the wrong way - whatever floats your boat - but I’d much prefer some kind of reputation based on quality rather than the groupthink “hur hur, that made me spit out my drink” system that Reddit and Lemmy use.

    But what do I know. I’m just some Internet rando with opaque motives, just like the rest of us.

    Edit: For the ideologues spouting the tired “Lemmy doesn’t have karma!” party line, the number alongside your username is what people are taking about, not what we call it. FFS.

    • MagicShel@programming.dev
      0·
      6 months ago

      the number alongside your username is what people are taking about

      Are you talking about on a comment? This?

      Because if I open your profile, there is no number next to your name.

      If you want to eliminate the display of upvotes that’s a completely different thing. Like why would we talk about resetting that yearly?