It seems that most posts voted down to −1 will get voted back up by people considering −1 unfair—even though, IIRC, the point of the karma system was to register your individual opinion, not to push towards any particular finite value.
I know my own voting behaviour is influenced somewhat by the current karma of the comment and I’m ok with others using the same policy*. An advantage is that it has a somewhat stabilizing influence. It means that a only slightly bad comment on a topic that everyone is interest doesn’t spiral downwards while an absolutely terrible comment in a topic that nobody is following closely just gets a couple of downvotes.
*Come to think of it I’m ok with people doing whatever the heck they please—since I expect them to do so regardless of any norm anyway and just change the justification they give to themselves. It saves on disappointment.
I know my own voting behaviour is influenced somewhat by the current karma of the comment and I’m ok with others using the same policy*. An advantage is that it has a somewhat stabilizing influence. It means that a only slightly bad comment on a topic that everyone is interest doesn’t spiral downwards while an absolutely terrible comment in a topic that nobody is following closely just gets a couple of downvotes.
*Come to think of it I’m ok with people doing whatever the heck they please—since I expect them to do so regardless of any norm anyway and just change the justification they give to themselves. It saves on disappointment.