It really was a massive and admirable goal. Klout as you described could quickly become one of the most important tools of the web.

Instead, people like myself saw humor in gaming the system a bit, so I quickly was in the top 3 "influencers" of ridiculous things, like Whitney Houston knowledge.

It is too bad, because when I first heard of the idea, it seemed like a huge step in social media. But I think your right, this first attempt might have spoiled the concept a bit.