How is HN karma calculated?

8 pointsgrease15y ago15 comments

I understand how HN calculates top posts (roughly, points divided by age to the power gravity) - but how is a user's karma calculated? I looked at the points in the threads/comments link on the top of HN, but the sum of the points there do not add up to my karma.

I'm guessing the answer to this is pretty simple and it bugs me no end that I don't know it :(

PS: Are all votes equal (when it comes to deciding the rank of a post), or does it depend on the karma of the voter?

8 pointsgrease15y ago15 comments

I'm guessing the answer to this is pretty simple and it bugs me no end that I don't know it :(

PS: Are all votes equal (when it comes to deciding the rank of a post), or does it depend on the karma of the voter?

15 comments

12 comments · 3 top-level

makecheck15y ago· 4 in thread

It seems to be the sum of upvotes for anything you submitted, plus (or minus) any points from comments you've made; and a comment score of 1 is not counted.

greaseOP15y ago

Yeah, I thought that would be the case, but some how it doesn't seem to add up in my case ... But wait, the "threads" link does not show the posts I made - only comments ... So I might be missing upvotes on the posts ... hmm, how do I see all th posts I made?

makecheck15y ago

Click your name to see your profile page, which has links to submissions and comments.

greaseOP15y ago

I seem to get points from the entire comment thread (who commented at any deeper level to my comment). Hmm..

greaseOP15y ago

Sorry, got it

lhnn15y ago· 3 in thread

Just something to note: I lost 40 karma points in a day when I was only downvoted 20 points... some of which I deserved, but still, something didn't work as expected.

Udo15y ago

I believe if a comment reaches -4 it doesn't go any lower, but every additional downvote is still subtracted from your Karma.

bpourriahi15y ago

Can someone explain how to downvote something? I only see an up arrow next to posts.

kingsidharth15y ago

You can down-vote after reaching a particular karma threshold.

1 more reply

Udo15y ago· 2 in thread

I would like to know how the average is calculated. When I was a noob below 100 Karma, the average was regularly updated to reflect the actual average karma of all my comments. However, this stopped around the time I reached 100. Now, my avg remains fixed at 2.17, a value that I'm sure has nothing to do with my actual ($karma_total/$comments_count) ratio anymore. Does anyone know how this works?

msbmsb15y ago

Ask HN: How is the avg in my HN profile calculated? -> http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1648811

Udo15y ago

Thanks! So it would appear that my hunch was right, only the first comments are used for avg, after that it never changes again:

"So it takes your comments numbered 6-50, throws out the highest-scoring one, and averages them."

1 more reply

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15 comments

12 comments · 3 top-level

makecheck15y ago· 4 in thread

It seems to be the sum of upvotes for anything you submitted, plus (or minus) any points from comments you've made; and a comment score of 1 is not counted.

greaseOP15y ago

makecheck15y ago

Click your name to see your profile page, which has links to submissions and comments.

greaseOP15y ago

I seem to get points from the entire comment thread (who commented at any deeper level to my comment). Hmm..

greaseOP15y ago

Sorry, got it

lhnn15y ago· 3 in thread

Just something to note: I lost 40 karma points in a day when I was only downvoted 20 points... some of which I deserved, but still, something didn't work as expected.

Udo15y ago

I believe if a comment reaches -4 it doesn't go any lower, but every additional downvote is still subtracted from your Karma.

bpourriahi15y ago

Can someone explain how to downvote something? I only see an up arrow next to posts.

kingsidharth15y ago

You can down-vote after reaching a particular karma threshold.

1 more reply

Udo15y ago· 2 in thread

msbmsb15y ago

Ask HN: How is the avg in my HN profile calculated? -> http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1648811

Udo15y ago

Thanks! So it would appear that my hunch was right, only the first comments are used for avg, after that it never changes again:

"So it takes your comments numbered 6-50, throws out the highest-scoring one, and averages them."

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse