I'm a bit confused by all of this. While I understand the concept of reputation say on ebay where you want to gain a higher reputation so people will buy things from you.
What purpose does it serve on a chat / information forum??? If for example I made a post that another forum member disagreed with or disliked, they could click on the scales say they disaproved and not leave any feed back in the box underneath? (this would then affect your 'reputation' ????).
Sounds like trouble brewing to me!!
Cheers
John