[LeelandS]

I personally subscribe to the idea that they are just dots in most cases. I tease certain friends because I have them and they don't, but it's only in jest and I don't actually think having a lot of dots makes me better than them. It's just a fun little tid-bit to look at when someone posts.

I will consider them if the person in question has one or more red dot, but even then, I don't base how much I listen to that person on what their reputation bar says. Every single person on Chief Delphi is entitled to their own opinion, so if the person in question said something and a group of people didn't like it and destroyed their reps, I won't disregard the person for having their own opinion, or just for having an opinion that differs from others (example: the mentor vs student built debate is a common CD topic. If someone speaks out against teams with "mentor built" robots and gets massacred in rep points, I won't disregard the person because their opinion differed from others and some people were offended by it).

I don't really make frequent use of giving reps, and I've never given negative reps. For the most part, I use it to thank people for saying something I found useful.

One thing I do note, is that CD users with full reputation bars are generally very reliable and noteworthy people (Karthik, JVN, Jim Zondag, Ether, etc, etc.). So if someone has a full bar of reps, I'll generally take that as a sign that they are a reliable and helpful person.