en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_News
1 correction found
Karma points are calculated as the number of upvotes a given user's content has received minus the number of downvotes.
Hacker News does not define karma as an exact upvotes-minus-downvotes total. Its official FAQ says that is only a rough approximation, because some votes are dropped by anti-abuse software.
Full reasoning
This statement presents Hacker News karma as an exact formula. The official Hacker News FAQ explicitly says that is not exact: "Roughly, the number of upvotes on their posts minus the number of downvotes. These don't match up exactly. Some votes are dropped by anti-abuse software."
So while upvotes and downvotes are related to karma, the article's wording is too definite. Hacker News itself says the displayed karma total is only an approximation, not a strict arithmetic count of all upvotes minus all downvotes.
1 source
- Hacker News FAQ
How is a user's karma calculated? Roughly, the number of upvotes on their posts minus the number of downvotes. These don't match up exactly. Some votes are dropped by anti-abuse software.