Back when Asianfanfics was a smaller site, stories were rarely commented on and people didn't talk much. I thought up the karma system to give an incentive to users to at least be more sociable with each other. I even used the term "karma" to symbolize the hope that when people say good things to each other, the others say good things back. The system worked to some extent so I started giving more and more benefits to gaining karma points.

Asianfanfics is much bigger now and there certainly doesn't seem to be a lack of user activity anymore compared to the ghost town we once were. But it turned out later on that some users have an obsessive need to gain karma even back when karma was just meaningless points with few benefits.

Now with the introduction of the new advertising feature, I'm seeing new levels of karma farming that no longer serve the spirit of why the karma point system was invented. I have updated the FAQ (details below) to reflect the new changes on karma increases. Remember, if you are making genuine comments on stories about its content and quality and not some inane banter that the author might not care about, then you deserve the points that you earn.

Updated the FAQ in regards to karma: http://www.asianfanfics.com/page/faq#karma1