I’m going to make an unpopular opinion, I think we can agree that karma count increased activity Reddit, but I think it was genuinely necessary.

It’s no different than Video Game Achievements, they are useless but they are a score that promotes a drive in activity from many, for better or worse.

I believe that the issue we did and will see with karma whoring, won’t matter as long as Lemmy is still a smaller community group. The value of the ‘karma’ will only increase with its userbase, which is something that will see a change in culture no different to Reddit over its 18 years.

What I am trying to say is, the value in karma count is a figure that represents peoples natural desire for attention and acknowledgement, something that will exist whether we identify as a score or not.

I don’t believe that the karma count itself is the problem, it’s just something we associate with the problems that larger groups of people result in.