The karma system has been custom designed for this forum by me, and programmed by the ever fantastic MartinC. Because I've been able to design it exactly the way I want, you may find it's a bit different to some which you've seen before.
You'll see your 'karma' appear as an increasing scale just above any awards which you've received. The karma image looks like this:
Your karma is anywhere from 0 to 5. You can't get negative karma, and everyone starts on zero, in which case no karma image will appear. Once you've got a karma of at least one, the image will pop up in your profile.
How Your Karma is Calculated
Your karma is calculated from a wide range of different measures, including (but not limited to):
- Number of topics you've started, and posts you've made
- How long you've been on the forum
- How active you are on the forum (e.g. daily post counts, most recent visit/post)
- Your personal reputation (built up through 'Likes' for individual posts from other users)
- How others rate your topics (again, the forum's built-in star rating system)
- Certain awards can give you more karma (e.g. achievement awards, great posts/topics)
- You get karma for becoming a Power User (well why not, you're contributing towards the site running costs...)
- Mini mods, experts, award winners etc. get an automatic karma uplift
I'm fairly happy that the karma ratings awarded this far are good, but there may be some glitches and anomalies but please bear with me, let me know about anything odd you find, and I'll try and get it sorted out for you. I have no doubt someone will start a discussion thread on this so I will keep an eye on that and contribute as necessary, however here are some of the Q&A I could think of off the top of my head.
Frequently Asked Questions
- I don't agree with my karma rating. I'm upset/cross/leaving forever.
- Everyone's in the same karma boat. See below for ways to improve your karma. And calm down!
- I want to give someone else bad / good karma. How can I do this?
- You can't directly increase or decrease another user's karma. That would lead to 'karma wars', which is nasty. You can rate the user (done in their profile), and rate their topics. Your votes, together with everyone else who contributes ratings, will be taken into account when calculating the user's overall karma score.
- How can I improve my karma?
- Mainly by contributing regularly to the forum and doing so with quality posts; starting topics which others like and rate highly, and/or posting messages which get noticed by the moderators will mean a gradual creep up in your karma. Don't expect it to leap up overnight, it takes time and care
- Mainly by contributing regularly to the forum and doing so with quality posts; starting topics which others like and rate highly, and/or posting messages which get noticed by the moderators will mean a gradual creep up in your karma. Don't expect it to leap up overnight, it takes time and care
- I don't give a monkeys about my karma. Can you take it off my profile?
- I imagine that a fair few users won't give a tinker's cuss about their karma rating, which is just fine. It's meant as an indicator of a user's contribution to the forum, and is a guide for others. Low karma may make no difference at all to your participation on the forum, but it will encourage others to post better quality topics, which is for the good of all. And no, I can't take it off your profile.
- How come users who haven't been online for ages still have karma?
- Over time, an inactive user's karma will decrease, because the system recognises they aren't active. But karma, once gained, isn't easy to lose, because it's indicative of quality. Even if the user isn't here on the forum, the posts which gave them the karma will be. So it makes sense that the karma stays too.
- What if I get banned, or suspended from the forum? What happens to my karma?
- Get banned, and all that karma's gone forever, regardless of quality on the forum! Suspended members lose karma temporarily, but they get it back when they're off the naughty step.
