There’s some misinformation floating around regarding Lemmy not having a karma system. While many have discovered otherwise, this is for those who may not have.
While it’s not exposed in the Lemmy default user interface, Lemmy does have a fully functional karma system and it is visible in third party clients such as WefWef and Memmy.
Do with that what you will.
Agreed. I’m not immune to the rush of seeing a post take off as a bonus reward for contributing. I also find it helpful in communties that deal in factual information as a loose system of trustworthiness.