I stay off OMNI and generally try not to be argumenative and don't try to get in the last word. So chances are I won't be racking up the points - positive or negative.

One area where I think reputation comments - signed or anonymous - is helpful to me is providing feedback on what I am saying. If I get a bunch of negatives on a thread I commented to, I see it as a hint that what I said might not be correct. If I get a bunch of positives, then I see it as a hint that people found it of value.

And if someone has a serious issue to what I said, doing it in a reputation comment might cut down on the flame fronts. For even if I feel that critique is justified (I have pulled some boners now and then), if they post it publically in the thread as a reply, someone else might not and pillory them, which leads to a counter-attack, draws more people in for and against, and quickly leads to the moderators closing the thread.

If I don't agree with the criticism, well BFD. I can ignore it. If one person thinks my comments sucked, and the others thought they didn't, well everyone has an opinion.

I don't engage in the social aspects of FlyerTalk (chat and OMNI), so when I post, it's to provide an opinion (hopefully an informed one) or answer a question/provide information.

I joined to learn. I stay to teach. It's the body of work that will determine my "reputation" amongst my fellow members, not a little dot or a post count under my name...

(Edited to delete a comment due to new information on the color of the reputation codes)