The reputation system allows you to give positive or negative points (yes, your points total can be in the negative) to other members (and leave optional comments). You start off with 10 points.
The default reputation levels are:
-50 or less points: User is infamous around these parts
-50 to -10: User can only hope to improve
-10 to 0: User has a little shameless behaviour in the past
0 to 10: User is an unknown quantity at this point
10 to 50: User is on a distinguished road
50 to 150: User will become famous soon enough
150 to 250: User has a spectacular aura about
250 to 350: User is a jewel in the rough
350 to 450: User is just really nice
450 to 550: User is a glorious beacon of light
550 to 650: User is a name known to all
650 to 1000: User is a splendid one to behold
1000 to 1500: User has much to be proud of
1500 to 2000: User has a brilliant future
2000+: User has a reputation beyond repute
You can view your own reputation points by going into the
User CP, and to the right of the "Latest Reputation Received" header, you should see your points total (only available if someone has left at least one reputation comment). You can't view the exact point of others. You can, however, sort the member list based on reputations, and you can hover your mouse over the reputation image to see a text description of your current reputation level. The reputation image will be green if you have a positive reputation, and red if you have a negative reputation. You will get one or more reputation image (icons) the more points you have (both positive and negative), and once you reach a certain level, the icons will change from dark red/green to bright red/green.
Each user also have what is known as a reputation altering power (default is 1) - basically, this determines how many points you give to (or take away from) other users per click. This power depends on the user group, the amount of time you've been here, the number of posts you've made and the number of reputation points you have.
There are also some restrictions like how many times you can give a reputation to a single user, how many times you can do it per day, minimum number of posts before you can do it, etc...
But remember, this is all in good fun and don't use the rep system as a "weapon" against other forum members (the old adage "If you have nothing good to say..." is approriate here). In fact, you can even turn the rep display off in the
User CP if you wish.
). It is also common courtesy to reply when your question has been answered, to say whether it worked or not, or just to say thanks.