Journal of Peer Production ISSN: 2213-5316 http://peerproduction.net ‘Karma, Precious Karma!’ Karmawhoring on Reddit and the Front Page’s Econometrisation Annika Richterich Abstract: In Reddit’s numerous topical subsections, so called subreddits, users post and share diverse content. The social news aggregator claims to be ‘a website about everything, powered by community, democracy and you’ (Figure 1). However, one can observe internal conflicts which indicate discrepancies between such idealistic claims as opposed to quantitatively-oriented participation. While some users emphasise topically focused motivations for their participation, others suggest that they mainly post content with the aim of collecting ‘Karma-points’. The latter approach has been called ‘Karmawhoring’. The term references Reddit’s ranking and evaluation system through the allocation of Karma-points. This paper examines how such a quantification of user participation influences interactions and content posted on Reddit. By looking at participatory practices and users’ interplay, it investigates opposing justifications and controversial incentives for contributions. It analyses particular cases of Karmawhoring, user criticisms of such merely achievement-oriented contributions as well as attempts to counteract (alleged) ‘Karmawhores’. The website’s ranking system is described as strategy that aims at decentralising the governance of content: it leaves the subjective determination of quality criteria to the crowd. The aforementioned conflict between idealistically and quantitatively motivated contributions has however led to a discrepancy between value assessments of content. The numerical representation of a contribution’s value through Karma- points, calculated by users’ up- and downvotes, does not function as uncontested signal of content quality. Instead, Karma-points have been criticised by users since they seem to economise participation and inhibit innovative content. Such an ‘econometrisation’ of participation particularly appears to be a result of the community’s rapid growth in scale. A focus on achieving Karma-points becomes primarily appealing once the visibility of communication is regulated by a vast amount of users and interpersonal feedback becomes less likely. Subsequently, Karma functions as main, quasi-monetary incentive and reward of participation. By analysing Karmawhoring and its criticism on Reddit, this paper describes how users’ claimed social values and the website’s quantitative valuation of content fall apart. Keywords: Reddit, participatory media, social news media, gift economy, econometrisation, karma and value, governance Annika Richterich 1. Introduction Reddit is a social news aggregator topically divided into various subsections, so-called subreddits. Users, most of whom have never met one another, share personal experiences, give each other advice, support e- learning, or even send each other gifts. Besides submitting posts, registered ‘Redditors’ can up- or downvote other users’ contributions. Their voting has the dual function of ranking content and likewise enabling the collection of Karma-points. While up- and downvotes indicate the feedback to a contribution through a direct, numerical representation of negative and positive assessment, Karma-points are calculated by an algorithm which takes into account factors such as the date of a post or its classification as initial link or added comment. Depending on the topical subreddit, reasons for considering a contribution as ‘(un-)valuable’ and signalling such an evaluation through up-/downvotes or comments may be helpfulness, informativity, provocativeness, creativity, or wittiness. Figure 1: Screenshot excerpt of Reddit’s frontpage, available at: http://www.reddit.com/, accessed on 2 May 2013 The notion of value is crucial in this context, since recent developments on Reddit suggest that the numerical representation of a contribution’s appreciation often deviates from users’ qualitative assessments. Critical comments or discussions regarding ranking issues on Reddit show that Karma is a contested quality-indicator. Karma-points might suggest a high value by representing a large amount of upvotes, however within the community one can observe controversies that the allocation of Karma- points and a (subjective) quality of Reddit’s content may stand in contrast to each other. Instead of acting as reliable signal of a post’s/comment’s value and quality, Karma-points are meanwhile considered as a symbol for quantitatively oriented content selection. Crucial internal conflicts and critical discussions regarding developments on Reddit have evolved around the notion of ‘Karmawhoring’. While some Redditors insist on following somehow altruistic, topically focused motives for their participation, others suggest that they mainly post content with the aim of collecting Karma-points. Such a quantitatively-oriented participation has been called Karmawhoring. The term references Reddit’s aforementioned ranking system in which contributions are evaluated by allocating Karma-points. The term does not merely refer to a pejorative designation by critical users, but is also self-referentially applied by users who admit to Karma-oriented posting strategies (see www.reddit.com/r/upvote or www.reddit.com/r/karmawhore). As Reagle (2013) points out, the notion ‘Karmawhore’ as well as the evaluation metaphor ‘Karma’ originally arose from Slashdot. The social news website is focused on science and technology related topics. The earliest use of the term dates back to January 2000, when it was mentioned in a comment’s subject header: ‘the karma whore/no lifer’ (see http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3199&cid=1415776). On Slashdot, users’ comments are evaluated by moderators who attribute points to comments. Those points are then translated into users’ overall ‘Karma’. Similarly to the dynamics on Reddit ‘[...] users accumulate page 1 / 12