Karma is a reputation point system. It is a rough measure of how much the Bullseye community trusts you and how much the community values your opinions. You earn Karma points by participating in the community in a meaningful way that enhances the user experience for other community members, such as helping them become better investors and posting great content. In other words, Karma points is a community consensus of whether other members should listen to what you have to say.

How To Earn Karma Points

Karma is earned through participation. Whilst the precise formula we use is a closely guarded secret, in broad terms the algorithm awards points where you interact with other members and contribute in a meaningful way, making the site better for everyone. This includes, but is not limited to:

• By starting new discussion threads (that are interacted with, not just threads for the sake of it)
• By posting good quality information, be it detailed, insightful or sharing your expertise
• The ratio of your upvotes and downvotes relative to the number of posts
• Voting on other member's contributions
• Suggesting new features and voting on our roadmap
• Reporting posts that are add odds with our forum rules and expected conduct
• By having followers and following other users
• Plus several other proprietary analytical measures.

This list will change over time and get incrementally more accurate at quantifying what meaningful means, so your actual Karma balance may fluctuate slightly in line with revisions to the algorithm. For example, capping or diluting cheap-n-easy upvotes by posting bullish statements on popular stocks or rewarding great posts on seldom discussed stocks.

How To Lose Karma Points (pointers on what NOT to do!)

Quite simply, where your participation reduces the user experience for other members. Such as (but not limited to):

• Posts that are reported and a moderation review is upheld
• Being rude or consistently disrespectful
• Your downvote to posts ratio implies that your content quality is poor
• Breaking the rules of the forum, our society or the law.

Furthermore, we have algorithms to detect unusual activity and bad actors which will get better over time. Such as (but not limited to):

• Attempting to game the system
• Registering multiple accounts
• Acting in concert with other users to push an agenda. Think pump-n-dump, hit squads and mobs.

Remember, it's okay to disagree or even be critical but do so respectfully and without personalised attacks. Use the site to help you become a better investor and play nice. Not that hard, eh? If in doubt, don't type it.

Sad that we even need to write this, but serious anti-social conduct such as racism, sexism, abuse, violence, threats and defamation will result in a permanent ban, at our sole discretion, and may even go further should the offence warrant intervention from authorities.

Is Low Karma Bad?

Karma is a consensus vote, so probably but not not always. We all start off at one point and earn it along the way. The user may be new to the site and has not yet had a chance to build a reputation. Or the user may have attracted down votes because other users don't like what they have to say, even if what they are posting is accurate (bearish with good reason?)

It is sometimes worthwhile as investors to seek out a wide variety of opinions - bullish or bearish - to harness the wisdom of crowds. Users with low Karma might just be unpopular as opposed to providing bad content.

If the user's low Karma is warranted, it might be best to block them or set some of the various filters to mute their postings.