I should point out that other forums have used variants of the reputation system used here, and they have not fallen into a pile of chaotic backstabbing and union Seniority-style hierarchies. People who abuse this feature, like snzspeed has, have (and will) be dealt with.

I think Sir Ementaler is seeing too much of the feature in a negative light. No one is going to use this feature for every single post he/she sees - no one has that kind of time. If you are that worried about your "Reputation", then you are worried too much about a statistic that does not apply to you in real life or you have too much time on your hands.