Ask HN: Why am I stuck on 51 HN karma points?

[anthay]

I post on HN infrequently. When I do it says something like "1 point for anthay." But I've been on 51 points for what feels like years. Just curious.

[clusmore]

My understanding is that comments start on 1 point but you don't actually get karma for that point, only for subsequent upvotes.

[onion2k]

You didn't post any comments for 8 months.

[anthay]

I posted one yesterday. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20722765

[onion2k]

I meant that you hadn't been posting comments for a while, so obviously you weren't going to get karma.

Now you're posting again hopefully you'll make interesting comments that people think are worth a click.

[bristleworm]

Roughly, the number of upvotes on their stories and comments minus the number of downvotes. These don't match up exactly; some votes are dropped to prevent abuse.

see: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

[anthay]

I see after your comment I've jumped to 52 points.

Usually, I write a short reply on some thread and although my post shows me "1 point by anthay" my karma doesn't change. I'm sure it used to.

[anthay]

Awesome, back to 51 points. Is it because I'm talking about karma and get automatically downvoted? I don't usually mention karma and yet still my little 1 point doesn't get added to my "score."

[muzani]

You'll normally get downvoted if you go against the guidelines. Quoting the related guideline:

"Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading."

[necovek]

I am looking at this as the 51st ranked post on HN: that seems to be your sweet spot, just enjoy it. :)

[anthay]

Ha! Well, I have 52 karma now. So I'm enjoying the view before the next downvote comes along. :-)

[mcv]

Well, certainly don't post questions complaining about karma. Instead, post interesting non-duplicate content that people want to read, or make useful or insightful comments in discussions.

[anthay]

Thank you. I'll do my best.

[kleer001]

Why do you want more HN Karma points?

[anthay]

Well, I believe you get more privileges in HN when you have more points. And it makes you look more attractive.

[quickthrower2]

If you want karma, post great news stories. Comments don’t attract much karma usually.

[scarface74]

Looking through the number of points you've gotten from your submissions (not many, join the club) and your current amount of karma, most of your karma has come from your comments.

[quickthrower2]

Maybe but on a per effort basis, submissions come out on top.

[anthay]

Thank you. So for example, and I realise this isn't a great news story, this Ask HN post of mine is showing me it has 6 points (upvotes?), but my karma is still 51.

[mcv]

Did you share it elsewhere for people to upvote? Apparently you don't get karma for that. Only for organic upvotes.

The system is fairly resistant to gaming. The purpose is to post useful content.

[anthay]

All I did was submit this Ask HN here. I've not posted a link to it anywhere. As I write the post has 13 points and I have 51 points. Again. I'm sure my life would be much better if only I could escape from the clutches of 51. (I've been down to 49 and up to 52 since I posted.)

[mcv]

It's not actual real karma. It's just a number. Don't obsess about it; that's bad for your karma.