[JaneYoung]

The cool thing about CD is that there are so many wonderful people from the FIRST community who post or who have posted here, helping to build and sustain the CD community. Some of those wonderful people can become heroes and role models to you and when they appreciate a post that has been made and take the time to rep it, it can absolutely make your day. I've seen posts sprinkled throughout the years of participating in CD that are along the lines of, "Oh wow! I just got repped by Andy Baker!", and I know how much that meant to the person on the receiving end of that rep. It's along the lines of having the great role models stop and talk with you at a competition or send you a private message of encouragement or wisdom.

That's what's great about the reputation system. What is not great about it is that some people don't really take the time to understand that participating in CD can be a very valuable experience and they focus on trying to get those green dots as quickly as they can, instead of letting them accumulate naturally.

Humor and knowledge have been mentioned in this thread as reasons for giving positive rep. I think there are other good reasons as well, such as asking thoughtful questions or bringing the discussion back on topic when it has strayed off course.

Another thought is that everyone starts out with one green rep. We build our reputation from there, some more slowly than others. The key word is build.

Jane