I feel that the karma system for rating posts is very rarely being used for its intended purpose.
It has been demonstrated to me on numerous occasions that most forum posters who disagree with the majority get rated down, regardless of the quality of their post. The end result is one big, happy group of forum users who all agree. There is no room for differing opinions. They get rated so low that they eventually disappear from view (unless you have chosen to see sub-default posts, which I think is disabled by default.)
I believe that moderating should be the job of the moderators, not the users.
Edited, Apr 11th 2009 9:28am by Darqflame