I can believe that the leaderboards encourage gaming, but I think post quality is the most important factor. I would not object to charging a karma point for each post though. That might make people think a little more before posting.

But, then there are posts like this, which won't be read by many and probably will not reach a score of two. And, docking a karma point might discourage the longer discussion threads, which are sometimes very interesting. Overall, I don't care.