New forum feature - karma - experimental!

[Peter Burgess]

on
http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?action=viewkarma
at the bottom, it says

"Top 5 smited users"

Shouldn't that be "smitten"?

 

[shotlighter]

on
http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?action=viewkarma
at the bottom, it says

"Top 5 smited users"

Shouldn't that be "smitten"?

As in "in love"?

 

[Mr Cosmic]

"Top 5 smited users"

Shouldn't that be "smitten"?

Isn't "smote" the past tense of "smite"?  If so then it should be the "Top 5 smote users" 

 

[kay]

No - 'smote' is the past tense in an active sense, ie from the point of view of the person doing the smiting. "He smote"
In the passive sense, from the point of view of the person on the receiving end, it's "smitten". Compare "bit" and "bitten". 

And don't come back with "hit" and "hit". Modern English has discarded an awful lot of the old distinctions.

 

[cap n chris]

Smatted?

 

[Downer]

No - 'smote' is the past tense in an active sense, ie from the point of view of the person doing the smiting. "He smote"
In the passive sense, from the point of view of the person on the receiving end, it's "smitten". Compare "bit" and "bitten". 

And don't come back with "hit" and "hit". Modern English has discarded an awful lot of the old distinctions.

rit and ritten?

 

[clunk]

Sorry, the temptation is too great.
Karma, Karma, Karma, Karma, Karma, chameleon........................
I shall get my coat.........

 

[barrabus]

If you have made more than 50 posts on the forum then you have the option to give or take karma from other posters.

I don't seem to have made 50 posts yet. 

Apologies for not being able to smite anyone yet but I'll work on it now.

 

[bubba]

Sorry folks, but i've removed karma from the forums....well i said that it was experimental didn't I ?

Reading the karma log it was apparant that the system wasn't being used for anything but tit for tat games. I know i said it was just a bit of fun, but the idea was that it was also some sort of guide to people's behaviour on here, and for that purpose it failed miserably.

 

[barrabus]

If you have made more than 50 posts on the forum then you have the option to give or take karma from other posters.

I don't seem to have made 50 posts yet. 

Apologies for not being able to smite anyone yet but I'll work on it now.

And now I'll never get the opportunity.... 

That'll teach me to spend all my spare time out caving instead of trying to make funny comments on interweb forums. 

 

[JB]

Sorry folks, but i've removed karma from the forums....

Nice one Bubba.  As you say, it could have been a useful guide to quality of people's contributions but some people spectacularly missed the point.

 

[Downer]

Sorry folks, but i've removed karma from the forums....

Nice one Bubba.  As you say, it could have been a useful guide to quality of people's contributions but some people spectacularly missed the point.

Perhaps they saw the point only too well.

 

[Peter Burgess]

I wonder whether the karma feature might have had the potential to put off newcomers. It's all fine and dandy having fun with people you feel you know, but when you come into a group as a stranger, it could be off-putting seeing the sort of rubbish that was going on.

 

[bubba]

Perhaps they saw the point only too well.

No they didn't, they missed the point completely.

When used well, it's a useful feature to aid self-moderation of the community. But if people can't restrain themselves and act like kids then it's never going to work.

 

[Elaine]

Perhaps they saw the point only too well.

No they didn't, they missed the point completely.

When used well, it's a useful feature to aid self-moderation of the community. But if people can't restrain themselves and act like kids then it's never going to work.

Do what?

How could it ever be anything than a bit of fun?

Who is going to use an official system like 'karma points' to remind them when to show some consideration or gratitude if they ought to be showing it? They could have done so just as well before in a post or a personal message.

There are quite a few people who post on this forum, and we are all a bit different and are not going to have the same sense of humour, though cavers as a whole surely have a sense of life and fun.

Yes, we do go over the top on this forum and it gets a bit silly, and I am sure most of us don't mind when those topics get put in the shit heap. I think it would be an impossible task to stop people posting amusing (or what some think of as amusing) comments from time to time. Some of the remarks made sometimes are very clever. Peter Burgess, Cap'n Chris and Downer are very good at this. They make me laugh and brighten my day - as do many of the rest of you.

In the end, 'karma' was treated with the contempt it deserved. It was never realistically going to be anything other than a bit of fun.

 

[JB]

Who is going to use an official system like 'karma points' to remind them when to show some consideration or gratitude if they ought to be showing it? They could have done so just as well before in a post or a personal message.

I did. It's a handy (very quick) way of thanking someone for a considered, informative or amusing post whilst not cluttering up the thread itself. For new posters asking advice, a quick look at someone's karma score should give an indication of whether they have a good reputation on the forum and whether the advice is likely to be fair comment. When you're seeking advice from people you don't know on potentially risky stuff, this could have been very useful. It fell apart completely when people started giving and taking away karma because you're 'lovely' or to 'keep somone's karma nice and tidy' etc etc...

Posting amusing stuff on the forum is great; but it's a shame to screw the karma thing.

 

[Elaine]

Hmm, sort of like the thing on ebay about sellers 'reputation'.

Some people can come across incredibly well, but turn out to have been talking bullsh*t. It could be useful for those who don't actually know who is to be believed and who is a bullsh*tter, to have some sort of reference point on which to glance to see whether this person is giving sound advice.

However, although I see your point, I still think it would never work in the way that was wanted. My karma might have been high because I was helpful to people about cave access and key lending etc plus other things I do. I may not know diddly squat about rigging, but may post something in a rigging thread one day which someone else takes as 'must be right judging by all that karma'.

I am certainly not lovely anyway!

 

[JB]

My karma might have been high because I was helpful to people about cave access and key lending etc plus other things I do. I may not know diddly squat about rigging, but may post something in a rigging thread one day which someone else takes as 'must be right judging by all that karma'.

Yes, that's always a risk and it's not an exact science but possibly the best we've got in the chaos of the interweb. I reckon if you'd made lots of good contributions on one subject, you'd have broad enough experience to know when to offer advice and when to pipe down on another. This is all very academic now!

I am certainly not lovely anyway!

 

[VivB]

Anne,
If you say you're lovely, I believe you!  Who's judging anyway?  You ARE lovely, and that's worth + Karma (+ you do have a very lovely collection of keys!).  And you dig!

 

[Downer]

When you're seeking advice from people you don't know on potentially risky stuff, this could have been very useful.

When I sought advice on potentially risky stuff I instantly got a load of bad karma for asking about something that had been done to death. However, I was actually asking about something specific which hadn't been covered before and when I finally got through, the plus points started coming in. The resultant score was totally meaningless but this was the nearest thing to people using karma soberly that anyone could reasonably expect. Karma can't work without draconian moderation - which is how I understood it would be run when Bubba explained the rules.