Thanks Canarsie for pointing this out. Your entire experience on FT is now in your hands and once that is learned, this will likely to be less of a factor.

May we first explain why we have engaged that particular feature: We really only wanted to engage it for The Coupon Connection forum and I'm sure you can guess why. Similar to the same reputation systems on very popular exchange or other commerce Web sites like eBay and even Amazon to some degree, we wanted a way to give members, especially the newer ones, something to know more about a member whom they may be considering an exchange. Over time we're likely to figure out how to isolate this to that forum. The messages you currently see are defaults, the system provides them and it's likely that all of you will soon with your normal participation develop systematically, the fine reputations you already enjoy. Remember, just like changing frequent flyer programs - you are starting with no miles and no elite status.

As for a concern above about other members spamming your reputation. Well, on the back end, we have the ability to look at the comments when called to do so and more importantly to trace the voter. If a member thinks they are being singled out in an unfair way, we can easily track that and deliver the "evidence" to the offender if necessary. But again, the goal and only goal of this implementation is to provide tools for the member to use. If someone on TCC rips other members off, their reputation will suffer and the members won't have to worry about not seeing a post among the tens of thousands that warned others....

Hope this helps understand this and while quite natural, we're really not interested in being your "Big Brother."