How Connections Build Trust
How Connections Build Trust
When you see a request in your feed, you want to know: do I know this person? Karmyq answers that question by tracing the real relationships between you and them.
The Idea: Trust Travels Through People
Think about how trust works in real life. You don't know a stranger — but if a friend vouches for them, you extend a little trust. If a friend-of-a-friend needs help, you're more likely to help than you would a completely random person.
Karmyq makes those chains of connection visible. They appear as small badges in your feed, telling you how you're connected to whoever posted a request.
Three Ways You Might Be Connected
The strongest signal: you've helped each other
The most meaningful connection is a completed exchange. If you helped someone move a couch last month, or they drove you across town, that's a real relationship — and it's the foundation of trust on Karmyq.
These exchange connections chain together. If you've helped Alex, and Alex has helped Maria, then you and Maria have a connection two steps long: You ↔ Alex ↔ Maria.
Karmyq shows connections up to three steps. Four or more steps away, the connection is too thin to be meaningful.
The middle ground: you share a community
If you've never exchanged directly, but you're both active members of the same community, you have something in common: a shared context, a shared set of norms, people who know both of you. That's a weaker signal than a completed exchange, but it's not nothing.
The thinnest link: invitation lineage
If you joined Karmyq because someone invited you, and they joined because someone invited them, you're part of a chain of introductions. Someone trusted you enough to invite you — and someone trusted them. That chain is real, even if it's indirect.
What the Badges Mean
The connection badge on a request tells you, at a glance, how close you are to the person who posted it:
| Badge | What it means |
|---|---|
| Direct connection | You've completed an exchange with this person |
| Connected through [name] | You share one mutual exchange partner |
| Two steps removed | A slightly longer chain of exchanges |
| Fellow community member | Same community, no direct exchange |
| Joined through... | Connected by invitation chain |
No badge means the connection is too distant to display — or doesn't exist yet.
Why This Matters for Your Feed
Karmyq uses these connections to shape what you see. Requests from people closer to you in the trust network appear higher in your feed. This isn't just algorithmic ranking — it reflects a real question: is this someone I have a reason to help?
The closer the connection, the stronger the reason.
Building Your Network
The best way to strengthen your connections is to complete exchanges. Every time you help someone — or they help you — a direct link forms. Over time, your network expands through those links, and more of the platform becomes visible and relevant to you.
You don't need to manage this manually. It happens naturally as you participate.