^ No clue exactly how karma stuff works on MR though I recall seeing a couple of threads which explained exactly how Karma works here.
It's nice of course, and I am personally delighted/flattered to have some folks respond well to me and my posts, but that is not the reason I am here on MR.
A shame, David, that people you helped didn't do the "right thing" with giving you some karma. I personally have been online since the dawn of time, but only actively participate in 2 forums - MR and another about mp3 devices. And I have only been active on the mp3 site for just over a year and a half.
Interestingly, that other site eliminated their "karma" system altogether [they used "Reputation"]. But over there, reputation could also be submitted against users in a negative fashion.
Here on MR, it seems karma is intended to be a light-hearted kind of thing, one that cannot be used negatively. Which I think is perfectly fine.
I personally have also been quite free with "giving" out karma to people and posts that I like because they made me laugh or because I happen to agree with their opinion.