I wanted simple metric that could “emulate” old karma. I found that Likes work pretty well. So there is formula that translates Likes Received into Karma “pips”. It will need to be adjusted, because there are pretty inflated numbers already 
…
Maybe you could think about using trust levels based badges for your purpose, because they reflect much more broader evaluation (frequency of visits, likes given, time spent reading, diversity of topics visited, etc … see Explaining trust levels). You can get many Karma pips (Likes) by just starting single topic (your grow journal). But higher trust level means that you are really following what is happening on the site and and aware of / participated in other topics also.
Once you reach some trust level, appropriate badge is awarded to you. It is good to bear in mind, that you can lose trust level 3 / Regular member permissions (with access to Private lounge) if you cease to comply with criteria again. But Regular badge will stay in your profile.
