How/why do you get negative karma?

[Gary B]

Maybe this isn't the right place to ask...but since it was brought up here...can anyone tell my why I have a -2 karma score? I have always tried to follow the guidelines and have always tried to be polite and appreciative.

Thanks
Gary

[Joachim Müller]

Hm, no - it's not the right place imo, but anyway - here's what can get you a negative karma rating (only devs, moderators, supporters and some other privileged groups can give karma btw.):

• PMing devs for support
• double-posting
• cross-posting
• thread-hijacking
• asking questions that show you haven't read the documentation nor searched the board
• posting stuff on boards that isn't meant to contain posts of that type (e.g. asking for support on the "feature requests" board or in "General discussion (no support!)" or asking a question on a support board that doesn't deal with your version)
• failing to read sticky threads before posting in a sub-baord
• not respecting the "one issue per thread" policy
• generally speaking: not respecting board rules and common sense

We use the karma system (that is available on SMF installs out-of-the-box for everyone and only restricted here on the coppermine board by using a custom hack) for internal purposes: to track users who constantly misbehave. Supporters are reluctant to help users with a high negative karma record, and a negative karma record may influence the decision to ban a user.
It's easy to receive negative karma (especially for newbies) and comparatively hard to receive positive karma - you get it for contributing in one way or the other (e.g. by giving support, contributing a mod, theme, translation or similar). For details how you can increase your karma, see http://forum.coppermine-gallery.net/index.php?topic=14227.0

Others have asked about negative karma as well, searching for it would have explained it as well and you wouldn't have risked receiving more negative karma for thread hijacking and posting as question that has been asked and answered already. I split your question and my reply from the unrelated thread.
There's nothing to worry for you if you have a negative karma, as long as you try to respect board rules in the future; your positive karma would even increase if you contributed in one way or the other, making your overall karma increase on the way.

Joachim

[Pascal YAP]

hi GauGau,

It's easy to receive negative karma (especially for newbies) and comparatively hard to receive positive karma

i agreee with you, but since i begin our French Coppermine Forum, i stay on a small and poor KARMA 5 :-\
You, GauGau, you are on a KARMA 37...
But we are not exactly the same developper, C'est la Vie !

I'm Happy at all 

PYAP

[Pascal YAP]

Oh Nice Day,

Following my preceding message, when my KARMA was only 5, this one increased to 7 now 
Who made two clicks ?
THANX
PYAP

[Paver]

Think of negative karma as a bump on the knee.  Figure out why you bumped your knee, then avoid that coffee table the next time you are near it.  Like a bump on the knee, the longer you are alive (posting/contributing to this site), the more it heals itself.

We all make mistakes now & again.  As GauGau said, the supporters use it to quickly gauge someone's past behavior when judging current behavior.  You won't be ignored, but it might flavor the response you get.

[Joachim Müller]

i agreee with you, but since i begin our French Coppermine Forum, i stay on a small and poor KARMA 5 :-\

Pascal,

you're doing excellent work on the French support board, but most people who can give karma don't visit the french support board, so they don't give you positive karma, as they can't see nor understand your continued support work. Don't let this get you down - after all, karma rating has been introduced to spot users who misbehave (giving them negative karma). Positive karma comes as a by-product, I wouldn't worry to much.
Hint: your fellow french supporters could give you karma, as they can monitor your support work best.

[Tranz]

Who made two clicks ?

I gave one. 

I agree with what GauGau said... you're doing a great job but it's not visible to those of us who don't go to the French board. But know that your help is appreciated by many people.

[v8central]

I hope I don't loose more karma for posting here, but the question was asked on this thread and not fully addressed.

My karma is -2 at the moment, and I can guess that one point was GauGau but how do I know where my other "offence" was ??  Is there a way of looking up which posts attracted negative karma (I have hunted and searched around but I can't find where) ?

cheers

[Tranz]

We can't clutter the boards with discussions on negative karma source for individuals. For general advice, you would need to go into your profile and review your recent posts. Additionally, it's possible for multiple supporters to lower someone's karma, and this tends to occur for more egregious activity, like flaming, etc.

[v8central]

Thanks for the reply, I wasn't wanting a discussion about it - more like a link of karma points (+/-) to posts but it's ok if that doesn't exist

[Joachim Müller]

As suggested above: the BBS software we use (SMF) has karma rating as a feature. We slightly modified it to only allow certain usergroups to rate. The karma system of SMF doesn't have the feature to store the thread where you got karma from; modifying the SMF karma system to accomplish this would be a serious and complicated hack that would make updating SMF harder, that's why we won't implement it. Take the karma system for what it is: a tool for devs and supporters. For you as a user, it should just exist as a warning to respect board rules and review your postings extra carefully before submitting. You can increase your positive karma by contributing in one way or another (see "We need your help").

Joachim

[trippinsweet]

GauGau, I'm pretty sure the Karmic Description mod does exactly what you just said (http://mods.simplemachines.org/index.php?mod=192)

Easy enough intsall for an unmodded SMF.

[Joachim Müller]

Won't install it, as the mod description "This mod allow to see, for what user change Karma to other users." doesn't mean much to me. Sloppy description often means sloppy coding - I don't trust it. Thanks for the hint though.

[trippinsweet]

No problem, just trying to help...
And as I understand it... the author of the mod isn't a native english speaker and he didn't have anyone who was look over the english descriptions.
Apart from that... I haven't had problems running the mod on my SMF install.

[Joachim Müller]

Yeah, but what does it actually do? I think the SMF community would appreciate if you posted a more detailed description and review of the mod as a comment to the mod page you refered to. This way, others might benefit as well.

[Puffinstuff]

Holly Molly,

0 to -4 Karma in one swoop.

http://forum.coppermine-gallery.net/index.php?topic=34059.0

I can understand -1 or maybe -2, but -4 for an innocent mistake?.

Do the crime, do the time... Double posted....  guilty and appologised.


Perplexed as to why it has gone to -4. PM'd supporter maybe?... replied to one sent to me.

Little chance of getting any help now with  -4.  And not many avenues open to me to increase Karma.

Very dissapointed... ( a little harsh IMHO)

[Pascal YAP]

Puffinstuff,

I can understand -1 or maybe -2, but -4 for an innocent mistake?.. guilty and appologised.

And not many avenues open to me to increase Karma.
Very dissapointed...

-3K Now 
it's not me ! ! ! 
PYAP

[Joachim Müller]

Did you read the thread you replied to? It tells you what you could get negative karma for. Meta-discussion about the karma won't help improving it. You should do as suggested, read up board rules and try respecting them from now on. This thread contains information on how to improve your karma as well. However, nobody said that you couldn't get support any longer. It's entirely up to the individual supporter if he/she wants to give support or not. Some may take your negative karma into account, others won't.

In your particular case, this is what you got negative karma for:
- asking for support on an issue that is not meant to go into the board you posted in
- sending an unrequested PM
- cross-posting / double-posting
- Failing to do as suggested

Details can be found on the thread you misbehaved in.

[bitcloud]

You have negative Karma because:

A) You searched the board for hours and couldn't find the post because the search doesn't work very well, so you posted a new topic.
B) You tried to post on relevant topics but were unable to due to user restrictions. You instead posted in the closest thing to your chosen forum.
C) You didn't spend 2 years locked in your basement studying PHP so got confused by the uncommented JS nested within HTML nested within PHP.
D) You're trying to strike up discussions with other users of the forums without intervention or judgement from the moderators.
E) You're trying to implement something "impossible" or "pointless" (something you've seen implemented on countless other sites and later find out is actually quite east to implement)
F) You tried to add levity to a post, instead of perpetuating steely cold condescension.

Avoid these 6 points and you'll avoid negative karma... 

[donnoman]

You forgot: A great way to achieve negetive karma, is to whine about negative karma.