Ok, I'll give this thing a stab..a few random thoughts..

I see the point of the Karma rating, myself...instead of being defensive about it have you considered why it's there?
It's all fine and good to have freedom of speech and to have fun but do you think of others when saying something or are you only interested in your thoughts? I see people say things like, "hey, it's my thought and you have yours so why are you interested in what I think, why are you concerned?"

Well, why did you post something on an internet board if you don't care how it affects others? It's an interactive community and your words do affect others, it's just how it works. A big part of the GD community is built on caring about others while having a good time. Both are possible, and lots of both.

I was having a tough time finding topics I had been a part of until I found the "my topics" feature so that may be another part of it for people that my have a problem with what goes on at times. This is just me, I'm not saying it's for everyone but I try to limit my topics so I don't bury topics started by others, it just seems considerate to me and that is only speaking for myself.

I know it's cool for me to come back to a topic I took part in and see what has gone on since and that's difficult if it's been buried on page 4 and yep, if someone been away a day or two and see 10 topics on the same subject or made by 1 person it
may agitate them to see that their topic died under a pile of stuff.

I'm not talking about anything in particular, just taking another view and trying to understand the whole picture. I'm not invested one way or another. It's curious that some say they don't care about the points but are so bothered by this system..which is it? Does anyone want a point from me or for me to deduct one? I've never done it to this day but it looks like an important issue to some folks.