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.

  • Libb
    2•3 months ago

    I hope Lemmy doesn’t bow to the I want reward, I need my shiny recognition ribbon trend.

    That’s 100% infantilization of participants. Even on the few reddit subs I’m subbed to (on average, those have real high value content), I can see a few people focusing on that karma thing and that’s sad to watch and, well, not flattering for them. It’s also a lot of useless work more to do for those mods that try to maintain a certain level of quality, which is not a great thing.

    Imh(and admittedly naive)o, people should post based on what they’re interested in and based on what they think they can bring to the discussion and not in exchange of a tap on the shoulder, or some good grade — unless they’re still kids going to school, doing homework and passing exams but even there… maybe one day, we will realize focusing our attention on grades more than on understanding/learning was a huge and costly mistake.

    Edit: mistakes and clarifications.

    • SanguinePar
      2•3 months ago

      I hope Lemmy doesn’t bow to the I want reward, I need my shiny recognition ribbon trend.

      That’s 100% infantilization of participants.

      Agreed. Have some Lemmy gold! 🪙