Sharper wrote:

It's a "feature" of the code that you can reduce your own karma faster than anyone else (that is not a moderator) can.

It's all in the source.

Since Karma isn't really used for anything around here, I figured hey, why not...

Yes, I see, if you copy the URL to give someone positive karma say for example, http://www.cougarblue.com/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,26/func,karma/do,increase/userid,3705/pid,179343/catid,2/ -- but then modify it so that instead of that other persons user id is in the url you put in your own user id, it lowers your karma by 10.

Hawkwing wrote:

Yes, I see, if you copy the URL to give someone positive karma say for example, http://www.cougarblue.com/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,26/func,karma/do,increase/userid,3705/pid,179343/catid,2/ -- but then modify it so that instead of that other persons user id is in the url you put in your own user id, it lowers your karma by 10.

Right. Also, while the other karma functions check the last time you tried to give or take karma, this one doesn't, so it will let you subtract 10 from your karma as fast as you access the link you create. I've been trying to be careful not to put an excessive load on the cougarblue servers or cost them much in terms of bandwidth and such, so I haven't taken that feature to the level you could if you didn't care about such things...

CAFB_04-12 wrote:

I suppose the opposite direction isn't allowed?

Correct. As a regular user you can only cause yourself to lose karma very, very, quickly, not gain it.

Actually, unless the underlying database software prevents it, if you go far enough in the hole (best guess: -2,147,483,648), the next time you dock yourself you'll flip around to the positive side of things, and have more karma than any of us can possibly imagine.

It's a plot so fiendishly clever I wish I had thought about it myself! ...I wonder if karma is stored as 32-bit integers in real life?

This only proves how little karma matters and why I think we should just do away with it.

redneckjedi wrote:

Actually, unless the underlying database software prevents it, if you go far enough in the hole (best guess: -2,147,483,648), the next time you dock yourself you'll flip around to the positive side of things, and have more karma than any of us can possibly imagine.

It's a plot so fiendishly clever I wish I had thought about it myself! ...I wonder if karma is stored as 32-bit integers in real life? ;)

I did originally think of that, so I tested it with a local copy of MySQL. Assuming they are running a reasonably recent version of MySQL, all that will happen is that when the limit is hit the sql code will generate a warning and not actually decrease my karma.

Thus, at that point it will be impossible for anyone (even a moderator) to dock me any more karma without changing the local code or modifying the underlying database table's structure.

A_King I agree! Karma is worthless, lets eliminate it! For some reason negative karma has a negative psychological feel to it... I don't know why it bothers me so much but it does. So I say we get rid of it...And since you are a moderator I bet you could talk it over with the other Mod Squad and eliminate it from the site...I'm sure many agree with me that Karma is worthless and should be eliminated...