Why do fake internet points matter so much? Yes, karma is difficult to attain, but it also does (almost) nothing other than indicate how active a person is here.

> This means you have a lot of people (like myself) simply opting out of a lot of discussions because if you're not on the right side, your comment will get downvoted immediately.

In short, so what? Does it really matter if one thing you said one time gets downvoted? We're all (supposed to be) adults here. All that happens is fewer people read your comment. Big whoop.