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Is it possible to modify the reputation system?

For example, up until a certain number of reputation points, users earn points for editing questions.

If modifying/adding ways to earn reputation is possible, would flagging questions as duplicates be an interesting idea to explore?

At the moment there is no way of encouraging flagging duplicates, and in order to earn reputation, it would seem that it is preferable to simply answer it to get upvotes rather than search and flagging as a duplicate.

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    I don't think I've ever heard the term "karma" applied to SE. The canonical term is "reputation". – Adrian Larson Mod Aug 22 '18 at 23:16
  • changed the terminology - idk why I always though of them as karma rather than reputation. – glls Aug 22 '18 at 23:24
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    1) users can only get up to 1k from editing posts. 2) rep for finding duplicate has been discussed before on mother meta, MSE: Reward finding duplicate questions - +10, +2, -5 – Andrew T. Aug 24 '18 at 4:01
  • interesting points. I like the idea of some kind of notification to users posting answers to already closed questions or with potential possible duplicates – glls Aug 27 '18 at 0:18
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No, I do not think it is possible. Even if it were, I think awarding reputation for flagging posts would be a change for the worse.

In my experience, the people who truly care about the Stack Exchange ideal are not really going to let points motivate individual actions which help maintain the health of the system. There are plenty of badges which add a tiny carrot for those who care, such as:

It is worth noting that when people agree on your duplicate votes, their close votes actually also count as comment votes. For those chasing the Pundit badge, if you flag a duplicate and it gets closed without moderator intervention, that means 4 upvotes. So you only need one other person to vote up your comment to get a step closer to another silver badge.

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  • Interesting, for those out there seeking badges. – glls Aug 22 '18 at 23:26
  • I agree that points for flagging posts could actually encourage poor behaviours rather than act as an incentive to increase flagging and some of the possible duplicates are not well chosen. – Dave Humm Aug 23 '18 at 10:26

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