It may indeed all work out, but I cannot see any possible benefit at all to karma. No matter the intention, it allows opinions to be formed without reading content. People will almost always act like sheep, and too many people will associate karma with legitimacy. I think it would be an incredibly foolish thing to adopt it.

Just because the current system doesn't do what you want, you think going back to a system of cheating and popularity contests is good? Think carefully about that. Unless you're the sort who also refuses to listen to music that isn't on the Top Ten list and only goes to blockbuster movies. If that's the case, honestly the Fediverse may not be the place for you.

What a thought...we'll have to form opinions of people based upon what they write, not on points that could always be faked or whored. Popularity is an incredibly stupid measure of quality. I'd like to see the up/down arrow on threads replaced by a simple view counter, too.

It's an invasive species that has been working its way west across North America. I hadn't heard of it in SoCal yet; this would be a drag. OP, what lake was it in? There may be rangers or similar authorities you could notify so they could look.

That's not the least of what makes me unhappy about the Google search experience lately. The thing I don't like is how much it sucks. Like, really really sucks. It was the paradigm of mind-boggling usefulness at one point. Now it's an ad server with occasionally marginally relevant results.