Ask HN: When will the first HN account appear on eBay?

10 pointstantadruj14y ago22 comments

In the times of World of Warcraft, virtual power positions quickly appeared on eBay and high point user accounts reached up to $2K.

Hacker News has its own karma based system, which gives high karma users a power to create destinies of stories and also users.

Since first page HN listing with an interesting title can generate 2000+ UQ visits in 6 hours to a specific target group, this definitely has some commercial value.

We've seen bots that automatically submit influencer blog posts to HN to gain karma. There are some Chinese farmers on HN which are building their karma to impress pg for YC submissions.

When will the first HN account appear on eBay? Or will it be single upvotes sold to generate long term income for farmers? Do you think this is already happening undercover?

22 comments

pg14y ago

"Hacker News has its own karma based system, which gives high karma users a power to create destinies of stories and also users."

HN karma gives high karma users a power to change the color of the top bar when they're logged in.

limmeau14y ago

The rewards of owning a high-karma account are limited. You don't get to upvote a frontpage item more than once (or do you? not at 780). Your comments may receive an occasional fanboy upvote, but that only creates more karma and doesn't shift the visibility of your message by a large amount.

So in conclusion, I don't think HN accounts will be traded much. Perhaps more if the frequency of "free invites to our beta service for HNers with 1000+ karma"-promotions increases.

bmelton14y ago

While you still only get to upvote once, as I understand it, that vote counts more than once based on your karma.

Regardless, while you might get high karma values based only on article submissions, that isn't going to impress anybody. When PG is looking at your HN account, he's almost certainly looking for insightful comments, vs. just a high karma score.

It's really hard to farm out quality comments to somebody else, and have it matter at the same time.

pmjordan14y ago

as I understand it, that vote counts more than once based on your karma.

Unless there's been a recent change, each vote has the same weight unless it triggers voting ring detection.

tptacek14y ago

    All: Who controls the British crown?
         Who keeps the metric system down?
         We do!  We do!

   Karl: Who leaves Atlantis off the maps?
  Lenny: Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
  Alien: We do!  We do!

    All: Who holds back the electric car?
         Who makes Steve Gutenberg a star?
         We do!  We do!

  Skinner: Who robs cavefish of their sight?
    Homer: Who rigs every Oscar night?

  We do! WE DO!

TuxPirate14y ago

We have been maintaining a set of HN accounts used to rank stories on the first page and it has been a valuable asset in gathering instant attention of a fairly large amount of users in a short amount of time.

Works, as opposed to what some people suggested in some comments.

jokermatt99914y ago

What do you mean by that? Mass upvoting?

tantadrujOP14y ago

I knew it :) Thx for being sincere.

TuxPirate14y ago

I'm such a good liar.. On the internet.

rms14y ago

I had thought about doing this for a while and giving the money to charity so that pg would look bad for banning me, but was convinced that it was more valuable to have my HN account. I think right now I'd value my Hacker News account around $5k, so would probably sell for $5k or more to the charity of my choice.

It's not my karma points that allows me to get things on the front page, but my intimate knowledge of the Hacker News ecosystem and voting process. The bonus I receive for having a possibly recognizable username is minimal.

As far as I know, Hacker News is the last reach of the social web that has not been hijacked by people selling votes. But I'm probably wrong.

JoeCortopassi14y ago

Meta-threads like this are a perfect illustration of how HN is declining. It does nothing to motivate/inspire hackers and startups. Instead we waste time up-voting/discussing things that have no relevance to real life. If someone wants to waste money buying an account based on "Karma", let them. Karma = nothing in real life

dwwoelfel14y ago

Someone could sell their HN account in real life.

"Relevance to real life" is not a good indicator of a submission's suitability for HN. The Minecraft CPU has less relevance to real life than this submission, but a Minecraft CPU definitely deserves the front page.

mihar14y ago

Should happen soon because people are attracted to power by nature. Let's wait and see what kind of valuation one HN karma point gets.

rokgregoric14y ago

My bet would be more like $0.01 and a $100 for a 1000 point account.

franze14y ago

why the jump in valuation at 1000?

rf4514y ago

I'd say, round $0.1 right now.

limmeau14y ago

I don't think anyone would want to buy my account for $78. That's a pair of headphones or a big harddisk or nine months of Dropbox.

1 more reply

hcho14y ago

When the price of a high karma account becomes attractive to the owner. So, probably never.

rf4514y ago

Wouldn't there be an escrow problem ?

tantadrujOP14y ago

I don't think so, because this can be done over a cup of coffee. Everybody is in the Bay Area anyways :)

dwwoelfel14y ago

Will someone please explain why this has been voted down so far. I could understand a 0 or -1, but in this case, I don't understand what warrants another downvote when it is already at -4.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

22 comments

pg14y ago

"Hacker News has its own karma based system, which gives high karma users a power to create destinies of stories and also users."

HN karma gives high karma users a power to change the color of the top bar when they're logged in.

limmeau14y ago

So in conclusion, I don't think HN accounts will be traded much. Perhaps more if the frequency of "free invites to our beta service for HNers with 1000+ karma"-promotions increases.

bmelton14y ago

While you still only get to upvote once, as I understand it, that vote counts more than once based on your karma.

It's really hard to farm out quality comments to somebody else, and have it matter at the same time.

pmjordan14y ago

as I understand it, that vote counts more than once based on your karma.

Unless there's been a recent change, each vote has the same weight unless it triggers voting ring detection.

tptacek14y ago

    All: Who controls the British crown?
         Who keeps the metric system down?
         We do!  We do!

   Karl: Who leaves Atlantis off the maps?
  Lenny: Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
  Alien: We do!  We do!

    All: Who holds back the electric car?
         Who makes Steve Gutenberg a star?
         We do!  We do!

  Skinner: Who robs cavefish of their sight?
    Homer: Who rigs every Oscar night?

  We do! WE DO!

TuxPirate14y ago

Works, as opposed to what some people suggested in some comments.

jokermatt99914y ago

What do you mean by that? Mass upvoting?

tantadrujOP14y ago

I knew it :) Thx for being sincere.

TuxPirate14y ago

I'm such a good liar.. On the internet.

rms14y ago

As far as I know, Hacker News is the last reach of the social web that has not been hijacked by people selling votes. But I'm probably wrong.

JoeCortopassi14y ago

dwwoelfel14y ago

Someone could sell their HN account in real life.

mihar14y ago

Should happen soon because people are attracted to power by nature. Let's wait and see what kind of valuation one HN karma point gets.

rokgregoric14y ago

My bet would be more like $0.01 and a $100 for a 1000 point account.

franze14y ago

why the jump in valuation at 1000?

rf4514y ago

I'd say, round $0.1 right now.

limmeau14y ago

I don't think anyone would want to buy my account for $78. That's a pair of headphones or a big harddisk or nine months of Dropbox.

1 more reply

hcho14y ago

When the price of a high karma account becomes attractive to the owner. So, probably never.

rf4514y ago

Wouldn't there be an escrow problem ?

tantadrujOP14y ago

I don't think so, because this can be done over a cup of coffee. Everybody is in the Bay Area anyways :)

dwwoelfel14y ago

Will someone please explain why this has been voted down so far. I could understand a 0 or -1, but in this case, I don't understand what warrants another downvote when it is already at -4.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse