The most controversial aspect of Plurk in regard to the social networking world is its use of karma. From what I can tell, it’s the only service that uses it as a core concept. Many users have been outraged that karma drops occur after just four hours of inactivity. This means that the act of sleeping – one which everyone must do – causes users to get penalized. Twice if you’re following the guideline of eight hours per night.

@amix, the lead developer for the Plurk network, made an announcement on Wednesday that he relaxed the restrictions on karma drops. Instead of drops occuring after four hours of inactivity, drops will now occur after twelve hours of inactivity. He feels this is a reasonable length of time before penalties occur. The mainstay of karma in the Plurk network, according to @amix, is that it makes people come back and it keeps the network fresh and interactive.

Karma is the hot-button topic of Plurk. From an objective standpoint, karma binds people to the service to prevent their karma from going down, which fosters use of the service and makes it more fun to be on because others are on it more often. I understand why karma was implemented, but most people don’t see it from that stance. Many people want karma to be gone entirely, while others want it to be optional. Ultimately, each user decides how much attention they pay it.