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@Velocio
Karma can be helpful or damaging. The verdict is still out on whether it's for all communities and has long-term value.
Even something like Stack Overflow which started with the whole "points" as core to advancement in the system has reached a stage in which it is self-defeating as it discourages new participation as new members have a disproportionately high barrier to establishing themselves in the community (the existing leaders have many thousands of karma points and all of the most common questions have been answered).
Karma systems are a gaming mechanism, they may induce increased engagement as people attempt to earn their way to the next badge or advancement, but they are also gameable themselves, and as such can poison the very core of the thing that it attempts to create engagement with.
I'm very unsure about such things. I prefer a more human, qualitative approach, than to simply rate everything and attempt to quantify everyone.
The reason I think the Slashdot one works is less to do with karma (which actually isn't that visible), and more to do with having a feedback loop (with a positive bias) that tells people how the wider community has interpreted their contribution.
That has some value, but it's not in a wider detailed karma system as all of that is hidden. Even if one post eanrs +3 Insightful, +1 Funny... only the +3 Insightful is shown.
Anyhow... I guess the question as always, if it's not working for the intended purposes... is why keep it, what is the value, and is it working as something positive for the community. In the case of LFGSS, with the rep system in it's current form... none of the answers to those questions really comes out with any strong reason to keep the existing system. So the next question is whether an alternative system might provide a good enough reason, something positive for the community.
But by then we're just fishing for reasons to keep it. Which doesn't seem like a smart thing. If the reasons aren't obvious and compelling... why keep it?