It’s not a very strong relationship between post karma (vote total) and number of people who are shown the title, even less so the number who click on it, let alone really engage with it. Certainly there is some causality, especially the difference between negative, slightly postive (<10), medium (11-30), and quite popular (31+). But it’s not particularly linear, and it’s probably overwhelmed by how accessible it is, how useful and interesting people find the topic, and whether the mods frontpage it.
Note that I said “don’t worry too much about”, not “it’s completely meaningless”. It IS an important feedback channel, especially if taken as fairly coarse indicators of how a few readers react (most posts get fewer than 20 votes during their first week). Learn a bit from it, but unless it’s literally negative, don’t worry too much about it.
For topics where you’re seeking feedback and interaction, pay a lot more attention to the comments than to the votes. These tend to be sparse as well, for most topics, but they’re much more direct, as they’re the reason you’re posting in the first place (feedback to make your beliefs and models less wrong).
It’s not a very strong relationship between post karma (vote total) and number of people who are shown the title, even less so the number who click on it, let alone really engage with it. Certainly there is some causality, especially the difference between negative, slightly postive (<10), medium (11-30), and quite popular (31+). But it’s not particularly linear, and it’s probably overwhelmed by how accessible it is, how useful and interesting people find the topic, and whether the mods frontpage it.
Note that I said “don’t worry too much about”, not “it’s completely meaningless”. It IS an important feedback channel, especially if taken as fairly coarse indicators of how a few readers react (most posts get fewer than 20 votes during their first week). Learn a bit from it, but unless it’s literally negative, don’t worry too much about it.
For topics where you’re seeking feedback and interaction, pay a lot more attention to the comments than to the votes. These tend to be sparse as well, for most topics, but they’re much more direct, as they’re the reason you’re posting in the first place (feedback to make your beliefs and models less wrong).