There is already a total count of up- and downvotes, but please never add karma to Lemmy. We don't want to deal with karma farmers and minimal karma requirements to post. I don't care about the moderation issues because karma brought more harm than good. Please never add that bloody dreadful thing to Lemmy. I already saw a bunch of people supporting adding karma to Lemmy, which will turn Lemmy into a cheap Reddit clone and karma-farming hell. Please, never add karma to Lemmy. I beg you. No more karma hell.
I think that karma is an obstacle to free thought. People prefer to remain silent instead of expressing their opposing opinions while declaring ideas that are more in line with the prevailing opinion of the community than their own in order to gain karma.
How? You can't see the difference between a troll and anyone who has an opinion that is different from the norm just by looking at downvotes. This just builds echo chambers.