There isn't any kind of long-term karma game like on other sites. 4chan is still content-heavy and shit posts are still looked down upon by the larger community. It may not seem that way, but the stupidest people are often the loudest.
Before, that was add-on/userscript feature. Since moot adopted them into 4chan's codebase, everyone has it.
>only trolls and candyasses pay attention to the number of replies on your post
Exactly. This feature encourages and rewards trolls and people who fish for replies.
>There isn't any kind of long-term karma game like on other sites. 4chan is still content-heavy and shit posts are still looked down upon by the larger community.
The dynamic of the discussion changes though. Even a slight nod matters in a long run considering that 4chan's culture evolves in a very rapid pace, thanks to its ephemerality and anonymity.
>
Come on.
Just recently it was shown that their automatic news feeds promoted fake news articles.
For a more detailed explanation: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/17/the-toxoplasma-of-rage/
The reply indicator.
For people who don't go to 4chan, you can read it on http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/you-here-s-your-you. Basically, if someone else replied to your post, the post pointer will show a (You) word, showing that the poster replied to a post that you wrote.
Moreover, the post number of posts that replied/quoted you will be attached to your own posts. Much-replied post will have a lot of link to the posts that replied them, and very visible when you skip through the thread.
This one simple feature has changed 4chan. Before, posts are similar and anonymous since they don't have visual distinction between each other. You have to actually read their content to know what's inside. The reply indicator make controversial posts very visible and "famous" in the thread.
Much like Reddit's voting system and Facebook likes or Twitter's retweets/favorites, 4chan now has its own post rating system. The difference is that Facebook likes and Reddit's vote system rewards popular posts that people agree with and liked. 4chan's "rating system" rewards controversial posts that people rebuke or laugh at.
The presence of this reply indicator make people try to post controversial contents, and to be controversial by 4chan standards, your post have to be very, very controversial.