[fullmetal]

It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing.  I think individual posts still record their net karma totals, so admins can see which posts need to be flagged, hidden, etc.  This is fairly useful.  But I'm certain that the purpose of the karma system is not to make us feel bad or to judge us as people.  And negative opinions are more often expressed--anger moves us more easily to downvote than agreement moves us to upvote, so I'd encourage you to do what I do and try not to pay attention to that number to the left  ::)

[fullmetal]

It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing.  I think individual posts still record their net karma totals, so admins can see which posts need to be flagged, hidden, etc.  This is fairly useful.  But I'm certain that the purpose of the karma system is not to make us feel bad or to judge us as people.  And negative opinions are more often expressed--anger moves us more easily to downvote than agreement moves us to upvote, so I'd encourage you to do what I do and try not to pay attention to that number to the left  ::)