[ratdude747]

I use the system to give credit where credit is due but I personally don't like the system.

I am a super moderator over at badcaps.net forums and there they disabled the reputation system. At least at that forum it was somewhat useless; usually one could see how good someone is based on how they post and what they post. I along with a few members sometimes have very unpopular opinions; I know that we'd get spammed with negative rep over it.

Over here that doesn't seem to be as big of an issue although in the past I have gotten some negative rep for IMHO stupid things. One was for questioning the opinion of some who the person giving the rep was "above being questioned". Another was for making a point that the person giving the rep thought was "unhelpful". There are other thigns I've been given that were kinda dumb but that's beside the point.

The other thing I'd like to point out is that humans typically have a stronger reaction to negative feedback as oppossed to positive feedback. As my dad once told me, "it takes 100 'Atta-Boy!'s' to counteract one 'you [stink]!' " This why I rarely if ever give negative (or for that matter neutral) feedback.