As I recall, only WMDKitty was REALLY bothered by the karma system, but there was a lot of annoyance &/or confusion over being smitten & not knowing WHY. The idea was that having something that said, effectively, "31 people thought you were a twat" wasn't constructive. You didn't know what they didn't like or why. You didn't know how to react because you weren't sure if it was drama-whoring, a joke, or someone actually had a beef with you.
That, coupled with the fact that most people have never witnessed a positive reaction with karma on any given forum, led to it being struck down.
And I was inclined to agree. I think that either we should just treat the karma system as a complete joke, or strike it down.