Originally Posted by venk

...I see no other redeeming value outside of the Coupon Connection as long as BOTH receiving and acquiring is limited to it and preferably based on a transaction. On the other hand, this increases the load on the server with threads like these and people checking/granting these points.

The main problem with the reputation points is it is quite meaningless to anyone who sees it.

If it is negative, you don't know if it is because someone writes a lot of posts with content but are controversial and there are people who disagree or because the poster is harmless while posting inconsequential stuff or if the poster is a jerk.

If it is positive, you don't know if it is because one has had a positive contribution, or one is simply an apologist posting platitudes collecting recommendations from other apologists or someone who has no content whatsoever but is nice/flattering to others or someone who is nasty to another poster that is disliked.

So the bottom line is that one has to decide for themselves based on posts, so what is the value of the reputation point other than one being one more usefless feature increasing the load on the server for any board outside of Coupon Connection. I hope both acquiring and displaying is limited to that board and that it is not anonymous.

This feature is better suited for juvenile talkboards where reputation and cliques are everything.