Honestly I find discussing this topic (regulating forum karma) pretty interesting. Granted, articles that are toned to imply someone's whining about being downmodded are kind of frustrating, but I don't think the overall idea is any less "relevant to hackers" than any number of other things that are accepted here.

The various approaches to karma, when well applied, have the ability to mitigate some pretty challenging social problems (trolling, etc). Math applied to meatspace issues seems like a geeky topic with the power to make a real difference in peoples lives. To wit: http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html