On external validation, I wondered about whether a social network or community with a karma system could fake that validation for each user to motivate content creation or positive sentiment?
e.g., if I actually got 5 upvotes on a HN comment, but HN showed it to me as 54, and then 78 and then 104 on subsequent comments, would I be more likely to contribute more? As a new user, would I be drawn in deeper?
It wouldn't work too well with public validation like Twitter, but it could for something like HN (and /. from memory) where the upvote count is now hidden.
The upvote count for OTHER people's comments in now hidden. you still always see them on your own comments. So it still does have public validation mechanism.
I think you can't see it on other people's comments because this forces you to up vote something only if YOU like it and not based on what other users think. Eg on FB, a lot of people "like" stuff just because it already has a lot of likes (the need to conform)
Yes, aware of all this. But how would that stop HN from misreporting to me the upvote count on my posts? The true value wouldn't necessarily be shown anywhere.
e.g., if I actually got 5 upvotes on a HN comment, but HN showed it to me as 54, and then 78 and then 104 on subsequent comments, would I be more likely to contribute more? As a new user, would I be drawn in deeper?
It wouldn't work too well with public validation like Twitter, but it could for something like HN (and /. from memory) where the upvote count is now hidden.