Is jester farming really a thing?

[RasaNova]

Serious question.

Bait posts are rampant across the forums these days, especially in the unmoderated game hubs that rely on Valve's staff mods. The common dismissive reply is "just another point/jester farmer." But, is it?

And by "these days" I don't mean this is anything new. I've been around for a while, and any time there's a popular forum with potential for a lot of views, people are gonna want some of that sweet sweet attention and post something to get it. But it does feel like bait posting is a lot more popular today than it was before.

But how much is really for points? I've called people award farmers here and there but I'm not sure if I really believe it. I kinda think it's just people who like the attention, or they like to throw gas on a fire then sit back and watch things burn, or it's just for the sake of pushing some narrative. I mean, what can we really even DO with points? How many flashing borders or animated waifu backgrounds does anyone need? We can't take the points with us when we're gone...

[Seraphita]

I mean, when someone posts a thread so ridiculous that it couldn't be true. What do you name it, then? Calling it a "jester farming" post only really means that the thread is so dumb that it surely can't be taken seriously and must be for farming clowns (since they're silly)

You just need to see it by what people really mean and it's not always literally "farming for points". Some people crave attention so hard that they're ready to post some random outrageous hot take to get it. This is what people call "jester farming". People do it a lot.

[Amaterasu]

Originally posted by Seraphita:

I mean, when someone posts a thread so ridiculous that it couldn't be true. What do you name it, then? Calling it a "jester farming" post only really means that the thread is so dumb that it surely can't be taken seriously and must be for farming clowns (since they're silly)

You just need to see it by what people really mean and it's not always literally "farming for points". Some people crave attention so hard that they're ready to post some random outrageous hot take to get it. This is what people call "jester farming". People do it a lot.

Here's a hot take. Anything someone says is a hot take is lukewarm at best.

[PootisMayo]

Originally posted by sungoddess14:

Originally posted by Seraphita:

I mean, when someone posts a thread so ridiculous that it couldn't be true. What do you name it, then? Calling it a "jester farming" post only really means that the thread is so dumb that it surely can't be taken seriously and must be for farming clowns (since they're silly)

You just need to see it by what people really mean and it's not always literally "farming for points". Some people crave attention so hard that they're ready to post some random outrageous hot take to get it. This is what people call "jester farming". People do it a lot.

Here's a hot take. Anything someone says is a hot take is lukewarm at best.

Here's another hot take: the phrase "hot take" should be banned.

[RasaNova]

Originally posted by Seraphita:

I mean, when someone posts a thread so ridiculous that it couldn't be true. What do you name it, then? Calling it a "jester farming" post only really means that the thread is so dumb that it surely can't be taken seriously and must be for farming clowns (since they're silly)

You just need to see it by what people really mean and it's not always literally "farming for points". Some people crave attention so hard that they're ready to post some random outrageous hot take to get it. This is what people call "jester farming". People do it a lot.

Well, we used to just call it "trolling." Although now that the trolls are reporting people for calling them trolls, there's a bit less of that label flying around everywhere. And people ARE using jester/point/award farming as the literal goal, not just as another convenient term for trolling.

Sometimes I almost wonder if part of the "game" for modern trolls is to see how many points they get vs how many replies they get saying "don't give them any points..."

[lavalobster93]

of course it is, getting a jester gives 200 points to you

[Mountain Months]

nah forcing jesters on people is a form of bullying and harassment and should be removed from the platform

[Pierce Dalton]

Of course it is, that doesn't mean every thread about it is a farming attempt, though.

[RasaNova]

Originally posted by BOT Anna:

of course it is, getting a jester gives 200 points to you

I'm aware of that, and that's the question. What are people doing with all these points? Are some of them really going from forum to forum posting something outrageous just to get them, if so then why? You can't sell them. Other than profile bling, I guess there's a badge you could level up, but I'm not convinced points are the reason so many are trolling in this manner. Not that it doesn't happen, of course.

[Crazy Tiger]

It's a thing, yes. It hasn't exactly created new kind of spam, but the spam has exploded a lot more since the points awards got introduced.

Originally posted by RasaNova:

Originally posted by BOT Anna:

of course it is, getting a jester gives 200 points to you

I'm aware of that, and that's the question. What are people doing with all these points? Are some of them really going from forum to forum posting something outrageous just to get them, if so then why? You can't sell them. Other than profile bling, I guess there's a badge you could level up, but I'm not convinced points are the reason so many are trolling in this manner. Not that it doesn't happen, of course.

Why do some people collect common, average rocks? Why do people do all kinds of "weird" things?

You should by now realise that you cannot always rationalise human behaviour.

[Mittens]

Originally posted by RasaNova:

Originally posted by BOT Anna:

of course it is, getting a jester gives 200 points to you

I'm aware of that, and that's the question. What are people doing with all these points? Are some of them really going from forum to forum posting something outrageous just to get them, if so then why? You can't sell them. Other than profile bling, I guess there's a badge you could level up, but I'm not convinced points are the reason so many are trolling in this manner. Not that it doesn't happen, of course.

Seasonal badge

[👾]

Indeed, it's just speculation but it's readily embraced by a lot of strange people. And even if it were true, it's still the fault of the ones who are giving awards to people they don't want to actually award. Idk how these people's thinking became so weirdly reversed.