Sounds like it would have self reinforcing feedback problems. I’ve certainly found that placement and traffic in the threads they’re posted in is at least as powerful a predictor of my comments’ upvotes as my perception of their quality, probably more so.
Well, some threads simply get more traffic than others; any post that generates abundant discussion is more likely to generate highly upvoted discussion, which means threads like Curi’s Critical Rationalism threads would appear as having “high quality” discussion when in fact they contained very little worth reading, and may even have been a response to a deliberate trolling.
And of course, it’s well known that Eliezer has a karma wake, since any comment that his own comments call attention to will get a large influx of readers. Recently, one of my own comments which had been stable at +2 till a few hours after I posted it shot up to +7 when Eliezer replied to the parent. Other posters like Yvain may generate similar effects.
Sounds like it would have self reinforcing feedback problems. I’ve certainly found that placement and traffic in the threads they’re posted in is at least as powerful a predictor of my comments’ upvotes as my perception of their quality, probably more so.
I think early comments are more likely to attract karma than later comments. Have you noticed other patterns?
You could be right about self-reinforcing feedback—people would be less likely to comment to articles with low average comment karma.
Well, some threads simply get more traffic than others; any post that generates abundant discussion is more likely to generate highly upvoted discussion, which means threads like Curi’s Critical Rationalism threads would appear as having “high quality” discussion when in fact they contained very little worth reading, and may even have been a response to a deliberate trolling.
And of course, it’s well known that Eliezer has a karma wake, since any comment that his own comments call attention to will get a large influx of readers. Recently, one of my own comments which had been stable at +2 till a few hours after I posted it shot up to +7 when Eliezer replied to the parent. Other posters like Yvain may generate similar effects.