[Tristan Lall]

Who would be open to an experiment: hide the reputation count from view in the thread.

It could still be visible on the profile page and the member list, so that the information isn't lost—just a little less emphasized. And maybe one's own reputation could appear below the welcome message in the top right—just so you're accountable for your own behaviour.

This could also be implemented as a profile option (enabled by default), so that anyone who dislikes the change can restore their preference.

Granted, responders will also see other cues like post count, rookie year and join date—but I think those represent something very different than reputation, because they inherently take years to develop.