oh boy, yet another rep. thread
Keep it the way it is, people will be pissed.
Take away some of their prized reputation: they'll still be pissed.
It's a lose-lose situation.
I still don't see what the problem is. If you sort by reputation, you'll see everyone with the highest rep first. It's more likely that if you have a question, you'll ask someone on the top of the first half page, than someone on the third page.
$0.02