I really don't see the purpose of karma and why places like Lemmy and Kbin feel that they have to implement. Karma isn't my concern, it has only been my concern when it comes to Reddit because they tie karma directly to your account to where it affects how much you post and where. If that doesn't happen at all in either Lemmy or Kbin - why have it at all?
Quite frankly, karma systems across all walks of all social media platforms is it's own disease. Even if it serves no purpose, it has a hold on many people to think and act in reflection to how much karma they've accumulated. I've noticed the more karma someone has, the more narcissistic they become, the more that they feel they've above someone and feeling untouchable. Why, because their count outnumbers yours. People with low karma count don't really care, because unless you're on Reddit, no affects. However that routes back to my earlier point.