[EricH]

Originally Posted by bardd

I've seen several people mention 'neutral rep'. What does it mean? Is it just giving 0 reputation points?

Exactly. When you give reputation, you're asked if you approve, disapprove, or are neutral. Default is neutral; if you haven't met certain parameters, any rep you give is neutral. See http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/fa...n_faq#faq_rep2

Of course, it's the comments that go with the rep that can be the most helpful. That's why neutral reps are popular--a couple lines about "Hey, you're new, so you might not know that it's generally considered a bad idea to start a mentor-built debate" could work at least as well as a red rep with "You idiot, why'd you bring that up!???!!!"