this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2025
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I don't know what to post

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Thoughts on features to boost intent for posting more?

Like a karma system of that other forum website.

I currently miss a point system to motivate me that shows people via my profile how much I could help by posting/commenting. There's no system to create such feedback currently on Lemmy.

Are there statements by the creators of this platform about that?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago

I agree, but I don't think a karma system is good. Maybe something like a system of streaks would be better? Like showing how many days in a row you made a post

[–] [email protected] 6 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

I don't want people posting just to make a number go up. If you don't have anything you want to say, don't post. If you don't feel motivated to engage, that's fine. Just lurk, or log off and do something else.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Dude, you've been on lemmy 4 days.

Maybe try getting into the vibe here before suggesting stuff that nobody really liked on reddit in the first place

[–] [email protected] 2 points 20 hours ago

I wish you the best in life

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago

I personally never saw the point of the karma system on Reddit. Just never used it in any way beyond some communities requiring X comments (with positive karma) before you can post.

I think you'll find many people on Lemmy are opposed the karma system.

[–] Flagstaff 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Huh, I didn't even realize that there is no Reddit-like karma system. Well, Lemmy still tracks your total number of posts and comments, so there are those.

Maybe they just want to eliminate having to fetch yet another total, though I see that it does filter by your highest upvotes if you sort by any "Top" category. So someone may end up developing a third-party karma tracker, which may make its way into some Lemmy apps.

Activity is the bottom line for my personal draw to post and comment. I don't care what the vote count is if my submissions are at least being read and replied to; isn't that what matters? If the comments only have the OP's vote, who cares as long as they're insightful? For me, karma is not a measurement of helpfulness, and may in some cases even denote spamminess.

I have no idea of where to find the Lemmy devs' thoughts because general opinion across the fediverse has been training me to avoid Lemmy.ml lol.

Now that I think about it, why don't you use the biography space in your profile for this?

shows people via my profile how much I could help by posting/commenting.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I have no idea of where to find the Lemmy devs' thoughts because general opinion across the fediverse has been training me to avoid Lemmy.ml lol.

why is that?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 13 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

thats just dumb for the growth of the platform....

[–] Flagstaff 2 points 22 hours ago

I've read multiple reports here and on Reddit of them banning users with communism-critical opinions.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 21 hours ago

It is commonly said that they are tankies and frequently censor comments criticising China or Russia.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Your overall score is being tracked, it's just hidden. Some frontends, like Mbin, let's you see it I believe. You can also see the score if you're an instance admin. Early on some 3rd party apps displayed it (Connect did I'm fairly sure), but I don't know whether they've decided to comply with the intent of the devs or the devs made the score actually inaccessible, but I don't think any of them show it anymore.

Regardless, it's very much a conscious decision by the devs to keep this score out of view. It's a frequently debated topic here and while many around these parts are vehemently against any form of Karma I can see that it has its uses - like identifying trolls for example. But the cost of gamification with all the karma farming it leads to may well be too steep.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Mbin isn't a "front end", it's a completely different bit of software that uses the same protocol for communicating between instances, and is thus cross-compatible.

The devs did indeed make the score inaccessible. It's no longer returned via the API.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Mbin isn't a "front end", it's a completely different bit of software that uses the same protocol for communicating between instances, and is thus cross-compatible.

The devs did indeed make the score inaccessible. It's no longer returned via the API.

[–] Flagstaff 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Interesting. Well, I mean, Beehaw doesn't even allow downvotes at all (I left it due to its restriction on user-made communities, not because of that), so this isn't too bad. Troll accounts shouldn't be too big of an issue because I think they'd leave a downvoted comment trail that should only take marginally more time to spot than a total, but maybe a "Controversial user" stamp might be helpful (lol).

The question is threshold on helpfulness. Again, I think if this issue is that big of a deal to you... capitalize off your bio! You're not using it so far!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

maybe a "Controversial user" stamp might be helpful (lol).

Piefed has that sort of thing, I think.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 19 hours ago

I've been making my own "controversial user" and "pretty cool" tags on Voyager. Don't know if any other apps allow for tagging. But it is kinda handy to look at a post, see my tag, and remember "oh yeah this person likes to cause drama" or "this person always makes an interesting point".

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

But the cost of gamification with all the karma farming it leads to may well be too steep.

Let's say Lemmy becomes the biggest platform for forum like exchange. Will a karma system change agenda/shill issues since we still have a upvote based community system where bots could influence certain opinions?

My current impressions:

Art communities sadly seem so lackluster - "like why share" is the vibe Im getting. I just want a strong unique selling point (USP) compared to reddit, because lemmy could replace (not saying it should copy) reddit, like the good parts, and show how reddit is in essence flawed like x and meta for example.

Or communities showing political/global media of what people recorded (i.e. some protest in istanbul right now, or serbia using sonic weaponry at a demonstration), even more regional like r/de always gives you a very complete feeling slice of german articles out there and its always rated so regularly. You can see like the top 5 publications of the day and then discuss it/see how people feel about certain things, that you wouldnt think about just reading the article.

I just fear the personal motivation for users might be too low for such feed activity, and often I notive like 10 people upvoting and not a single comment, so more reactionary - maybe its just total users tho what im missing..

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I just want a strong unique selling point (USP) compared to reddit

The unique selling point of Lemmy at the moment is not getting site banned for upvotes like on Reddit

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

LOL I am in this and I do(dont?) like it :D

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Karma is not a good system.

I do agree however that additional features to encourage posting and engagement would be good for Lemmy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

yeah thats what I was trying the discussion to get to!

Like how to encourage it

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Your profile shows the number of posts and comments.

Have you joined [email protected] already? You might be interested

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

thanks for the recommendation

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I judge people here by their words, not their updoots.

I know some apps calculate "total karma" if you are really inclined to see your total, even if you don't get any prizes for it. The way the Lemmyverse is built, some disabling downvotes etc., some defederations, means that total score will be different depending on which instance you observe from.

Looking at your profile rn, your post/comment total tells me you are contributing a lot considering the age of your account, and the comment quality I sampled is decent. Upvote total wouldn't tell me anything more useful than that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 hours ago

I just miss the regular posts - alot of content holes... since most people are browsing and just reactive with votes and/or catching up with the links/media

thats where Im coming from. I ofc see the problems of the karma systems

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

No thanks. Maybe badges could be better

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Badges? We don’t need no stink’n badges.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

You think a generic score is better?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 23 hours ago

Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Classic western.

That's where the line comes from.

However, I prefer the UHF version: Badgers? We don't need no stinking badgers.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 23 hours ago

It was a joke.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

badges, like the premium feature u mean?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Badge like expert in a certain topic, a badge for accuracy etc

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

how do we get the idea to the owners? sounds like a no brainer to me!