I believe that the rep system works pretty well. Think about it.
If I was to create a new account here on CD, how would you know if I was trustworthy? I could set my stats up to look like my rookie year was 2003 or something, then I would stand out from the crowd. I then could post my opinion all I wanted, or I could post blatantly wrong info, and nobody would know any better (unless they did...
). Now, what CD has now to prevent this is our rep system. It's a quick way to see if someone is trustworthy. See a thread where X is posting bad information, hit -rep and send them a PM. However, for this to work, conversely we must push +rep for those who post good info.
I really believe that this system needs a face lift. Instead of little weights, put "Was this post helpful? yes/no" on every post, and make the scale much smaller (1 good rep doesn't push you up another bar like it did me). That way, rep doesn't count anywhere near as much, and people don't take it too seriously, and those that are really good stand out from the amateurs.
Reputation gives you an(other, hopefully) incentive to behave. Your account won't be deleted for posting a new thread "HELP! HOW TALL CAN OUR BOT BE?", but aside from making your team look bad there is no punishment for this except bad rep.
Just my 2 cents (well, more than that if you look at the length of the post...)
JBot