Originally Posted by Law Lord
The fuss over the reputation feature -- and in particular about what happened when Mr. Petersen turned anonymity off, allowing everyone to see who really blinged and dinged them -- reminds me of a scene in Arthur C. Clarke's book Childhood's End. Karellen, who apparently disliked bullfighting but didn't want to say so, caused the spectators at a bullfight to feel the bull's pain, with each strike from the picadors. And bullfighting stopped. Similarly Mr. Petersen, rather than condemn pseudonymous dinging, simply took the wraps off and is letting the dingers squirm about it.
How perfectly karmic! (Interesting that Mr. Clarke chose Sri Lanka in which to set up shop and, not coincidentally, I suppose, that the predominant religion on Sri Lanka incorporates the idea of karma in its teachings.)
Which is what I said before, that the dings should be karmic, and for every point you take away from someone else, you should take away from yourself, as well.