Reputations

[The Saucepan Man]

So if people are going to waste their time rating my posts low 'cause I don't know enough about the books or movies or whatever, I really could care less.

As far as I'm concerned, it's not about how well you know the books or the films. It's about how well-expressed, thoughtful, witty, insightful, informative etc your posts are. In other words, how much your post contributes to the particular thread that you post on (whether that be in the Books, the Quiz Room, an RPG or whatever).

We are all here because we enjoy reading posts made by others and posting ourselves. It seems to me that any system which encourages us to post well, and therefore makes us think more and elicits more interesting or funny material for us all to read, is something which is worthwhile.

That said, I agree to some degree with Lyta. Reputation is an interesting feature, and should be meted out (whether positively or negatively) with care. But people shouldn't take their personal Reputation ratings as the be all and end all.