I definitely get how you feel, but I think free communities stay like this one in tone, regardless of whether they get substantial growth. I think it could be a counterintuitive sign of health when Lemmy is big enough that some of its userbase is kinda annoying and you have to find the subs (is that the right term here?) with the community that you like
I think karma could in some ways be fun, but overall was more of a liability than an asset for Reddit. I'm glad Lemmy didn't have it. Reduces karmawhoring incentives