Just a suggestion, could the rep points carry no weighting? As in a rep from any member would equal the same value? When someone wants to rep a post, it shouldn't (IMO) mean more or less who they are, how long they've been here, etc
I think I could set up the rep options in that manner. Basically give zero weighting to EVERYTHING and just give everyone an initial number of rep power points. The options page has been posted in this thread for comment along such lines. I'm looking for thoughts on what people would like to see from that system before I implement any changes.
But there will always be issues from people who really WANT to abuse the system. For instance, without some limits on the number of times someone can rep another, what is to prevent two people from giving each other rep over and over again just to inflate their rating? There ARE people who would do such a thing, for whatever reason. Heck, there are people out there that think the number of "friends" they have listed on Facebook really means something... Some people are just competitive by nature, even when there is no prize for some perceived "winner".
Actually a while back I asked my programmer about making is such that someone giving someone else rep points would have them subtracted from their own rating. He thought it was a bad idea, so that idea went no further. I thought that if giving rep actually cost you something, it would make you much more circumspect about someone giving it out. As it is, it doesn't cost a thing to rep everyone you can, so why not? Maybe they will even give YOU rep in return. After all, it is free. But my programmer felt that everyone would just stop using the rep system entirely if set up that way. So I tried to do that in another manner by severely limiting the number of reps you could give out in a 24 hour period.