Habari Post

Will you delete my comment?

No. The idea is to make discussions on Habari Post like discussions in real life- you can't change what you say, you only can attempt to clarify by saying more. In other words, you can't delete a comment that you've posted, you only can post a reply to yourself and attempt to clarify what you've said.

We have spam filters and such, but if something inappropriate slips through and becomes a comment, we will delete it.

Why did it take so long for my comment to appear?

If the system told you that your comment got submitted, it'll show up. Because of the way data gets cached in our system, it could take as much as ten or fifteen minutes (although it doesn't usually take that long).

How does moderation work?

Every logged in user has the access to moderate comments. This is in development. Further explanation will follow shortly.

Do editors moderate?

Yes.

What is karma?

Your karma is a reference that primarily represents how your comments have been moderated in the past. Karma is structured on the following scale "Terrible, Bad, Neutral, Positive, Good, and Excellent." If a comment you post is moderated up, your karma will rise. Consequently, if you post a comment that has been moderated down, your karma will fall.

In addition to moderation, other things factor into karma as well. You can get some karma by voting in polls and submitting a story that is posted to the site.

What does "Good", "Bad" etc. Karma Mean?

Karma is the sum of your activity on Habari Post. This means posting, moderation, story submissions

What is karma used for?

In short, your karma determines the extent to which you can moderate comments associated with a story on Habari Post. The more karma points you have, the more comments you can raise to the top of a discussion or lower to the bottom. (Below a certain point, comment cease to show up in the discussion. This point is known as the threshold.)

How can I improve my karma?

The moderation system is still in development. What follows are general guidelines to follow when commenting. These are the behaviors that we are trying to reward as the moderation system develops. With that in mind, try these tips for improving your karma:

- Post Intelligently: Interesting, insightful, thought provoking comments are rated higher on a fairly consistent basis.

- Post Calmly: Nobody likes aggressive, attacking comments. In fact, more times than not the attacker gets burned much more than their target.

- If You Can't Be Deep, Be Funny: If you don't have something truly developing to the topic, some humor is welcome. Remember though, what rips your sides out may be completely inane to somebody else.

- Post Early: If an article has over a certain number of posts on it already, yours is less likely to be moderated. This is less likely both statistically (there are more to choose from) and due to positioning – your post may be at the end of a long list.

- Post Often: If you only post once a month you can expect your karma to remain low. Also, lively discussion in an open forum enriches perspectives.

- Stay On Topic: Off topic posts are quickly and consistently moderated down.

- Be Original: Avoid being redundant and just repeating what has already been said. This includes the "what he said" and "me too" posts.

- Read It Before You Post: Does it say what you really want it to say? Check your own spelling and grammar. Occasionally, a perfectly beneficial post is passed over by moderators because of this completely irrelevant-to-content feature.

- Read Habari Post Regularly: You can't possibly contribute to the discussion if you're not in the room.