I never really cared about upvotes and downvotes, but I liked that my comments and participation meant something to someone at one time or another. I liked that when I posted a comment or asked a question people could look through my post history to learn more about me and answer accordingly. More than anything I miss my saved posts and comments and enjoyed going back to read through what was important or funny to me at a particular moment in time. I don’t have close friends or any family that lives within 1,000 miles so the connections I made through Reddit meant something.
I’m grieving.
It wasn’t hard to drive up karma on Reddit… just find a sub where everyone shares your point of view and make snarky comments at the expense of someone or something they hate. Rinse and repeat for about four years. I’m not saying it’s the ONLY thing I posted over there, but it’s certainly the easiest way to boost your stats. I think I had 70K of karma by the time I deleted my account, and it happened organically, without a lot of deliberate effort.