Ask HN: Why am I stuck on 51 HN karma points?
I post on HN infrequently. When I do it says something like "1 point for anthay." But I've been on 51 points for what feels like years. Just curious.
21 comments
My understanding is that comments start on 1 point but you don't actually get karma for that point, only for subsequent upvotes.
You didn't post any comments for 8 months.
I posted one yesterday. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20722765
I meant that you hadn't been posting comments for a while, so obviously you weren't going to get karma.
Now you're posting again hopefully you'll make interesting comments that people think are worth a click.
Now you're posting again hopefully you'll make interesting comments that people think are worth a click.
Roughly, the number of upvotes on their stories and comments minus the number of downvotes. These don't match up exactly; some votes are dropped to prevent abuse.
see: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html
see: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html
I see after your comment I've jumped to 52 points.
Usually, I write a short reply on some thread and although my post shows me "1 point by anthay" my karma doesn't change. I'm sure it used to.
Usually, I write a short reply on some thread and although my post shows me "1 point by anthay" my karma doesn't change. I'm sure it used to.
Awesome, back to 51 points. Is it because I'm talking about karma and get automatically downvoted? I don't usually mention karma and yet still my little 1 point doesn't get added to my "score."
You'll normally get downvoted if you go against the guidelines. Quoting the related guideline:
"Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading."
"Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading."
If you want karma, post great news stories. Comments don’t attract much karma usually.
Looking through the number of points you've gotten from your submissions (not many, join the club) and your current amount of karma, most of your karma has come from your comments.
Maybe but on a per effort basis, submissions come out on top.
Thank you. So for example, and I realise this isn't a great news story, this Ask HN post of mine is showing me it has 6 points (upvotes?), but my karma is still 51.
Did you share it elsewhere for people to upvote? Apparently you don't get karma for that. Only for organic upvotes.
The system is fairly resistant to gaming. The purpose is to post useful content.
The system is fairly resistant to gaming. The purpose is to post useful content.
All I did was submit this Ask HN here. I've not posted a link to it anywhere. As I write the post has 13 points and I have 51 points. Again. I'm sure my life would be much better if only I could escape from the clutches of 51. (I've been down to 49 and up to 52 since I posted.)
It's not actual real karma. It's just a number. Don't obsess about it; that's bad for your karma.