Caching Karma suggestion

Question

I like the idea of Caching Karma, but I think the current way of calculation is not wholly reflective of the idea behind it.

"The idea is that you should give back to the community at the same time as you use it."

The current method of calculation is only about numbers, so that someone who puts out 100 average caches for people to find are rewarded more than someone who puts out fewer caches, but those caches are more experience orientated which gets rewarded with more FP's.

Could the calculation take FP's into account, so that a cacher who puts out really great caches (ones thought of as great by finders) has an equal standing with those who put out simple power trails?

Each has it's merits, and I don't want to slag-off power trails, but I feel that the truly great cache creators are not receiving true Karma.

Just an idea of course

Comments

The idea of caching karma comes from the time long before there were any favorite points in geocaching. Indeed, it does not reflect quality of caches, but I think it is fine. For favorite points on owner caches, there are badges. I do not like the idea of modifying the original caching karma.

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Thanks for that explanation, it's good to know the history of why things are the way they are.
But I will disagree with the idea of keeping it the same. Things can always be improved, which is what my suggestion does (in my view of course) as it takes into account 2 ways of "giving back" instead of just 1.

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Did not know that. So ist is historic. It should stay as it is.

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Answer 1

Some time ago a second karma rating was added and available in Profile stats > Hides - Caching karma (#FP earned/#finds), which possibly answers TwigNZ request.

I agree with Twig, that quality, as well as quantity, is an important factor and I recommend that Karma(FP) be made more widely available - eg in Stat Compare, and in Statistics Over Time.

Some sort of merged karma would be ideal, but that will lead to questions of how many hides is one FP worth and everyone will have their own opinion.

Comments

Thanks tS. I hadn't been aware of the second Karma rating until pinkunicorn and yourself pointed it out (upvoted your answer), and whilst interesting it's not wholly what I was after.
I'm really more interested in a merged Karma calculation being used for the Top Karma stat, as that would better fulfill the suggested brief of reflecting how cache owners give back.
I know that asking 100 people what the calculation should be would give back 100 different answers, but I wonder if there could be some sort of consensus?


As always, just food for thought.

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I have a better solution. Rather than a concensus, How about PGC (ie Ganja 1447) just come up with a formula and implement it.

I suggest Karma (merged) = (FP+hides)/finds
(assumes FP has equal weighting to hides)

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Well I'm absolutely convinced that would be a quicker process :)

Answer 2

Have you noticed that there are already two different karma values on the Hidden tab of the Profile stats?

Caching-Karma (#Verstecke / #Funde):	2.44 (23936/9814)
Caching-Karma (#FP verdient / #Funde):	0.23 (2221/9814)

 

One that divides the number of finds by the number of logs and one thatt divides the number of earned FPs by the number of logs. Isn't this precisely what you want?

Comments

Thanks pinkunicorn. I hadn't noticed the 2 different ways on the Hidden stats, so thanks for pointing that out (I have upvoted your answer).
But I was referring to the 'Top Karma' list as generated from the Statistics menu. I'd like this calculation to be an amalgam of both those methods so it reflects better the wider ways in which cache owners 'give back'.