The loss of the forum karma system is hazardous to my health. I no longer have the ability to express my frustration with people who dig up old threads or leave useless "me too" replies. Nor do I have the ability to express my gratitude to those who help answer a question or exercise good sense.

I realize it was a problem, but not everyone was abusing it. I had more than four times more positive karma than negative, and I never requested karma or tried to trick anyone into giving it to me -- I never even acknowledged it's existence. I think that reflected well on my presence in the forums, even though compared to some I have a low post count -- in essense a "quality over quantity" indicator.

I'm saying this now because I'm fairly sure the karma is never coming back, and I'm not trying to bring it back. I just wanted to emphasize that the problem is not with the system, it's with the members of the system.

$0.02

*puts on spokesperson's hat*

We're currently discussing re-implementing Karma in a different way, perhaps in a read-only fashion (ie, only members can give +/- karma).

We almost unanimously decided that it was better for the community to get rid of it in the interim.

Sorry for any problems they may have caused.
- Valhalla's Legends.

Yup. It's a shame that the actions of a very few people caused this reaction.

I definitely agree. I have of late turned to shooting myself in the foot with a beebee gun several times daily to let out the frustration.

[quote author=Grok link=board=2;threadid=5632;start=0#msg48004 date=1078627140]
Yup. It's a shame that the actions of a very few people caused this reaction.
[/quote]

Why not just permanently ban the few?

[quote author=Hazard link=board=2;threadid=5632;start=0#msg48113 date=1078687630]
[quote author=Grok link=board=2;threadid=5632;start=0#msg48004 date=1078627140]
Yup. It's a shame that the actions of a very few people caused this reaction.
[/quote]

Why not just permanently ban the few?
[/quote]

I did suggest that. But it's about probabilities - even if we ban them now, chances are someone will pop up again later and abuse it. It was deemed better to just remove gu^H^Hkarma entirely.

Couldn't you just give it a zero tolerance policy, and warn in the disclaimer that abuse of the system will result in an instant and binding ban?

[quote author=Hazard link=board=2;threadid=5632;start=0#msg48124 date=1078688196]
Couldn't you just give it a zero tolerance policy, and warn in the disclaimer that abuse of the system will result in an instant and binding ban?
[/quote]

It would mean work to us. And it's annoying to have to dig into finding where the script that altered karma came from.

Who used it first?

UserLoser, but it doesn't matter. Somebody was bound to do it eventually.