Joseph,
You wrote:
Nonetheless, if it were my call, I'd forego the peer-scoring altogether. I think too that I would do away with the star ranking.

I think that the star ranking system serves a useful purpose, i.e. the more stars that you have generally for the most part the more knowledgable that poster is about the 8052 and the applications of the 8052. Otherwise how would someone know that a particular response is a valid one? I also think that the karma score also serves a valid purpose and with some tweaking will be more useful to the newer members.

Jacob