Foreigngirl: it matters to admin, because this is a for profit site, and like everything else, karma needs to be leveraged to turn a profit. To make it valuable to members means money in the owner's pocket.
I agreed with a lot of what Mr. DB previously stated in this thread.
The system will always have a certain amount of imbalance to it because of a few factors:
1) Karma can be "created" by any member, on a daily basis, for free
2) Some people simple do NOT care about karma and give it to others, so you see evne more consolidation
3) This is more of a 2a, but you see very high participation in the karma bookie and the karma store by a few, and next to no participation by the majority.
So how would I fix it? I would introduce a new system, something that would not affect what is already out there, although the current system may need changes.
A new system should have the following mechanisms built in:
1) a way to opt in or out of the system completely. That way, you don't have people who don't want to participate or don't care, in the system. you could try to make participation in the system based on something like a fee. karma bookie, karma poker, make it fee based, but of course you will have to do make the end result, call it karma, worth something
2) make karma really worth something
3) make it cost a person something to GIVE karma. I like the idea that giving away karma actually takes it from your total. Maybe not on a 1 for 1 ratio, but making it cost something to the person giving it will be the first step in reducing the whoring.
BRR you are right, the inflation has happened, and will only get more and more rapid as time goes on, its exponential growth.
Ironically, the same thing happens here in the US with wealth. Wealth, like karma, can be created by people. Example? Go saw a tree down and build something out of it that someone wants, like a canoe, and you've created some value, you traded in your time and effort and created something with monetary value.
Those who have money (or in our case karma) can easily get more. Those without have no shot in hell at getting as much as the top without some serious luck or good fortune (aren't they the same thing)
Anyway, those are my thoughts. And no i don't care to be moderator, I just enjoy participating in the site in many ways.