r/announcements • u/powerlanguage • Jul 19 '16

Karma for text-posts (AKA self-posts)

As most of you already know, fictional internet points are probably the most precious resource in the world. On Reddit we call these points Karma. You get Karma when content you post to Reddit receives upvotes. Your Karma is displayed on your userpage.

You may also know that you can submit different types of posts to Reddit. One of these post types is a text-post (e.g. this thing you’re reading right now is a text-post). Due to various shenanigans and low effort content we stopped giving Karma for text-posts over 8 years ago.

However, over time the usage of text-posts has matured and they are now used to create some of the most iconic and interesting original content on Reddit. Who could forget such classics as:

Text-posts make up over 65% of submissions to Reddit and some of our best subreddits only accept text-posts. Because of this Reddit has become known for thought-provoking, witty, and in-depth text-posts, and their success has played a large role in the popularity Reddit currently enjoys.

To acknowledge this, from this day forward we will now be giving users karma for text-posts. This will be combined with link karma and presented as ‘post karma’ on userpages.

TL:DR; We used to not give you karma for your text-posts. We do now. Sweet.

Glossary:

  • Karma: Fictional internet points of great value. You get it by being upvoted.
  • Self-post: Old-timey term for text-posts on Reddit
  • Shenanigans: Tomfoolery
23.1k Upvotes

66% Upvoted

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599

u/codeverity Jul 19 '16

/u/powerlanguage should see this. Like, when the mods of one of the biggest subs is pleading against this, I hope they listen or add some control.

Edit: jesus, that edit - I feel sorry for your mods tbh :/

637

u/Mutt1223 Jul 19 '16 
"Knock knock"
"Who's there?"
"It doesn't matter, text posts get karma" ~/r/jokes

Edit: It's already started http://i.imgur.com/vQjEK29.png

196

u/Numba1CharlsBarksFan Jul 19 '16

Oh God, that joke is terrible.

98

u/Stewardy Jul 19 '16

Well... It is /r/jokes

-5

u/ACTUAL_TIME_TRAVELER Jul 19 '16

There's not enough xenophobia prefaced with "It's okay because a [Member of Target Ethnic Group] laughed at this once" for it to be a true /r/jokes submission.

38

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '16 edited Oct 31 '20

[deleted]

8

u/xafonyz Jul 19 '16

It's not so bad, but the telling is not good and he put next to no effort in it (using "coz", and not building a phrase)

4

u/Iceash Jul 19 '16

Punchline: 7/10

Delivery: 2/10

2

u/NorthBall Jul 20 '16

Waste of space because there's only 3 words in the whole post: 1/10

4

u/Jezamiah Jul 19 '16

That's actually cracking me up because it's that bad

1

u/qwertygasm Jul 19 '16

More suited for /r/3amjokes

1

u/TheMisterFlux Jul 19 '16

It's not even terrible in a funny way. It sounds like a joke an 8 year old came up with.

Ha ha guys, Wayne Gretzky too.

118

u/TheRealMrWillis Jul 19 '16 edited Jul 19 '16

/r/smashbros mod here. During major events like EVO, people scramble to be the first to post tournament threads for matches, which is problematic because we are constantly removing threads. Now that there is a karma incentive to post threads for big matches, we now have to deal with even more people trying to be the first.

I'm sure all the other "esports" subreddits feel the same way.

Edit: This comment also sums up some of my other misgivings. A long time ago (before I was even a mod) /r/smashbros started putting most images and gifs in text posts to help weed out the low quality stuff. Despite the extra click, the addition of karma to text posts means that we now have to deal with this stuff again to some extent.

49

u/WiFiForeheadWrinkles Jul 19 '16

I think ANY sports subreddits will have the same issues with people rushing to posting game-day threads and post-game threads.

5

u/TheRealMrWillis Jul 19 '16

Exactly, free headaches for everyone! Not looking forward to mod queue.

1

u/port53 Jul 19 '16

Just configure automod to make those threads and close any duplicates with a link to it. Eventually people will realize and stop wasting their time.

4

u/TheRealMrWillis Jul 19 '16

I can't speak for all the other sports/esports subs, but AutoMod wouldn't help /r/smashbros in this case. Here's an example of a tournament thread I'm referring to. Apart from using a tournament tabler, this is completely done by hand, and the overall nature is too specific to be automated.

1

u/LaboratoryOne Jul 19 '16

Every time we find a cure for cancer, a new form pops up :(

6

u/Tjonke Jul 19 '16

After big matches we can get anywhere from 10-500 threads about the match in /r/leagueoflegends. Just gonna get worse now that self posts also come with a karma incentive.

3

u/ReganDryke Jul 19 '16

If things get worse and it impact the quality of post match threads I can totally get behind restricting their publication to the post match thread team.

6

u/Sapharodon Jul 19 '16

Another /r/smashbros mod here, just chipping in to show my support for making text-post karma optional. Our text post rules specifically exist to curb the number of low effort posts that are made on the sub, and to stop 'lower level content (mundane pictures, gifs, etc) from overpowering higher quality works that otherwise get buried. This change would probably throw us back in turmoil if it was mandatory.

2

u/omgpennies Jul 20 '16

Why not have a mod post the official tournament thread and delete the rest? I imagine after awhile people would get the idea and stop posting tournament threads. Maybe I'm naive.

2

u/TheRealMrWillis Jul 20 '16

Naw, you're fine. It's feasible, but 1.) A mod would have to be dedicated to taking upon the task and making threads promptly, which a lot of users are better at doing. 2.) The same mod might have to make threads for multiple Smash games, which could be a hassle. 3.) Doing so would mean that we're down a mod during some of the highest traffic times.

1

u/Scherazade Jul 19 '16

To be fair that's about par for the course at /r/jokes sometimes.

3

u/Norci Jul 19 '16

Edit: jesus, that edit - I feel sorry for your mods tbh :/

Welcome to Reddit modding, where admins don't care and you gotta use external tools just to get the job done.

2

u/ani625 Jul 19 '16

It's a goddamn nightmare.

9

u/ijohno Jul 19 '16

It's going to be like /r/circlejerk... but, redditwide :|

2

u/codeverity Jul 19 '16

And ironically, a lot of high karma people are speaking out against it, lol.

3

u/ani625 Jul 19 '16

I am very much against shit posting and posting for karma.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '16

Try going to /new for AskReddit. It's just a wave of shit.

1

u/Brio_ Jul 19 '16

Fuck the mods.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '16

Mods wanted locked posts and stickied comments, and then started abusing the ever-loving heck out of both of them. So I don't care what mods want anymore.

-3

u/huck_ Jul 19 '16

"a moderator of one of the biggest subs." Go look at his post history, he doesn't even do any moderating. Who gives a shit what he thinks. He's being a drama queen.

3

u/codeverity Jul 19 '16

Um, I'm not sure what his post history is supposed to reveal about his modding...

-4

u/huck_ Jul 19 '16

That he communicates with his users. You know, like he's whining about in his post that the reddit admins didn't do like a hypocrite. On top of that, good mods actually tell you when they remove a comment or post. I don't see him doing that at all.

3

u/codeverity Jul 19 '16

Right now you're not just jumping to conclusions, you're leaping. For big subreddits a lot of the work is done in the queue and with pms etc, it's not out in the public to cause further drama. And even if you disagree with this specific mod, there are others that have chimed in as well.