not sure about commercial success, but it a crazy idea, love it

I think this is a great idea, but the bigger issue is that you have to get people to believe in karma, or at least the idea that their actions have consequences, before it does any good. I recently saw a dance production that mixed some classical music with audio excerpts from the Apology Line (a telephone service where people call and leave apologies for bad things they've done). One of the excerpts was a rapist who basically said "this is a great service because I've been feeling really guilty about the things I've done and now that I've apologized, I don't have to feel bad and can go do them again". I think a lot of our western culture believes in a more Christian concept of forgiveness and absolution than in the more Eastern view of karmic cycles. Without a fundamental change in how people think, this site might just devolve into a place where people go to make themselves feel better so they can go out and be nasty again.

That being said, I think anything that makes a person consider the consequences of their actions is a good thing and a site like this could be a good tool in raising that awareness.

I agree that people have to believe in Karma.

What if you flip it around and you have people that have had something bad happen to them. They ask people what they think should be done by the people who have done the bad acts. It might make someone feel better to hear other people agree that the person was a jerk. Nah, then it's just a gripe fest.

Perhaps the way is not to pedal it as Karma, but under another guise. Look at www.join-me.co.uk its just about doing a good turn once a week. Obviously if you want to do your good turn to recoup a sin it links nicely into Karma.

Reminds me a bit of 'My Name is Earl' but that's no bad thing.

Cool idea! =D

I love - not sure how you will make money, but what the hell - why is it always about the money?! :-D

Very cool! This wil contribute a lot in making this world a nice place to live. I hope my vote will lift your average to above zero, Cougar. Like several others, your idea doesnt deserve a negative vote at all.

hmmm

Hi Cougar.
Don’t be fooled by the friendly and open society from the outside. From the inside it’s different. Disabled people are treated like sh.t because they did something bad in their previous life.
But in general I like every initiative that makes this world a better one.
Tommy

Well who would decide the choice of punishment?
The user or the web site?

]V[oogy

Will Radiohead endorse the idea, or will record company attorneys attack over the name? Stay tuned to find out! ;-) it is an interesting idea. does everyone the world over subscribe to the idea of Karma though? Perhaps with a better title, and Karma converted into a more generic or secular concept would be more universally agreeable. :-)

I dunno. Switzerland is neutral. I am neutral. Therfore, I am Switzerland... ;-)

Hmmm i guess CH should nominate this for Robinhood fund...

Seriously, i think its better be an UI beside spamming button and negative votes say the sixth star as KARMA vote. =)

I love it!

what about an electronic (or voicemail) confessional? just say 12 Hail Marys and you;re set!

How about a gratitude section where because something good happened to you, you can in the heat of the moment make a donation to a good cause.

That would be in addition to your original idea.

There is something to work on here, and I think you could have a pretty good charitable fundraising site if you got the right marketing angle.

Reviewing your idea, I see it's only partly about money. I like the randomness of the various "punishments".

I see two different concepts here, one about the crowd and the random punishments / atonements, and the other about fundraising.

Both seem worth pursuing.

Like your blog btw, thx for posting the link. startupaday - great idea in itself ;-)

correction: astartupaday - well the correct link is up in the idea description so please everyone, go there for the URL, in case I screwed it up again!

Thanks for the nice comments about my blog, Jill! If you (or anyone else) are interested in guest-posting an idea there and getting feedback from my readers, just shoot me an Email (kleneway _AT_ hotmail)

BTW, the fundraising angle is very interesting. I'm gonna sleep on that one...

Man I like it

sounds like it could be fun

and maybe link to nonprofit organizations for donations?

good thinking

Humorous, but commercially I don't know how it would do.

ooh kinda like postsecret...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PostSecret

Yep, PostSecret was a big inspiration for this idea.