The system I pointed out is free from those flaws, for precisely one reason: karma in that sort of system is always relative.
That is, everyone moderates according to their own tastes, and nobody is 'better' than anyone else. It all sums to zero, the only filtering is by individual preference.
'The system I pointed out is free from those flaws, for precisely one reason: karma in that sort of system is always relative '
Can you give me some sites that use this (aside from skype)? Can you explain how say person 1, rates person 2 and how the rating is viewed from person 2's point of view? ... or say person 3 observing?
person 1 allocates one or many positive or negative points to person 2.
person 2 shows person 1 as having higher/lower karma, person 1 shows person 2 as having higher/lower karma.
Person 3 has no viewpoint unless they are in the system. There is no 'absolute' objective viewpoint without taking a stance.
A user with no ratings of anyone sees everyone with the same karma.
All four of the major extended interactions work too. (friend of a friend, enemy of a friend, enemy of an enemy, friend of an enemy)
Another property is that it doesn't matter how many points you use. You may rate someone up or down as much as you desire, or make up your own rating system, whatever works for you.
'... Person 3 has no viewpoint unless they are in the system ...'
So there is effectively no visible karma? - unless person 3 intersects person 1 and person 2?
That's a pretty good system. How do you measure (unless you have admin on the system) person 1 compared to person 2 and person 3? From the way I see this would it work on a system where a (visible) reward is given out for effort? (I define effort as creating links + comment).
The reason I ask is that how do you encourage users here to add content and create a leader board? I know the constraints are bit tight, but if you solve this it would be worth recommending to features.
Well, one way is to pick a viewpoint and use that. But really, the important thing is, you see that you are valued by the people you respect. As long as you're a user in the system, it's obvious whether you have good or bad karma.
That is, everyone moderates according to their own tastes, and nobody is 'better' than anyone else. It all sums to zero, the only filtering is by individual preference.