I say leave it well enough alone. The only valid argument I've seen in this entire thread for a reputation system was a way to detect trolls/bad posters, but even that didn't necessarily require a reputation system devoted to it. It's a failed experiment entirely. I've seen my fair share of users who had good reps yet their posts were drab or hardly worth receiving rep for. They got by being cute and other users took I liking to it I suppose. The entire system was just another form of online competition, which if I wanted I could have just played one of the hundreds of online games I own. I come here to debate/learn about issues, not get into the verbal equivilent of Unreal Tournament. I didn't have an immense amount of rep and I've been a member of this forum for four years. A lot of people don't like my posting style and I can accept that. I don't walk around with a smile on my face all day, and I'm willing to bet more than one person finds it obnoxious.... But what of people who posted legitimately informative subject matter or tried to be an asset to the forum who never received any merit or recognition for it? I'm sure it's happened.