A Karma API?
mdasen: I'm going to have to say no.  One of the largest sources of anxiety in our society is this belief that we have a dossier following us around.  And we do.  New jobs won't hire us without references from our old jobs.  We have to fill in empty spaces in some way.  Schools won't let us in unless we have a good record.The internet allows some respite from that.  We can simply create an account and go on our merry way.  Screw up?  Start over!Yes, it allows trolls to troll, but it also removes the anxiety of failure and dossiers.  It's (one reason) why OpenID hasn't caught on - most people would rather NOT authenticate beyond reasonable doubt that they are who they say they are on the internet across sites.  They don't want everything they've said to be traceable to them.If this is an opt-in system built around a number of sites where you can share karma OpenID-style, you'll find people creating their own shell sites to boost their karma.  Good for nothing.  If it's a mandatory system in a few sites, you'll find users rebel.  We choose our communities because we want to be there and we recognize that when we go to another community, we need to work to gain a reputation there.