[Cory]

I think it was Andy who said "they're just dots" (Someone please correct me, if I'm wrong).

It's true. If you get one for a petty reason, shrug it off, chalk it up to the person being a jerk, and move on.

Just as there are good reasons to give positive reputation, there are good reasons to give bad reputation. Go reverse sort members by reputation. It's immediately going to show you people who are either trouble makers, or cannot communicate their thoughts without resorting to personal attacks and inappropriate discussion.

It's a relatively useless metric anyways. I don't choose who's posts to read based on the reputation they have.

I know many whom have only a small amount of reputation. These people are often ones we should all look up to, and take note whenever they post; even though they don't post as frequently as some, their insight is unparalleled.

I know there's some users who have massive amounts of reputation who's posts I glance at, or don't read at all.

My point is that the number of dots doesn't matter. What it comes down to is that if you write well thought out posts that avoid personal attacks and denigrating others, people will take notice, even if you have very few. If you post inane drivel, people will take notice as well, and ignore you.