As you stated in your post, it's so easy to cheat the current reputation system with circle jerking and self upvotes
That's why I have never been inclined to include anything related to reputation in Hivebuzz.
While it is sometimes an indicator, the current reputation is all but reliable.
My main reference for reputation is the Hivebuzz level (redfish, minnow, dolphin, ...) i.e. amount of HP, even if I have to admit it's not really accurate as an indicator and can be gamified too.
But I tend to consider someone with more skin in the game as more reputable too.
I agree.
That said, I do think we might be seeing a bit of value to the reputation system. It can still be gamed but then what cant? We did come a long way from the bidbot days which skewed everything.
To me, it is a starting point. Checking the account on Hivebuzz tells a great deal more about what the person is doing and how dedicated they are.
By the way, I am still working on my 100K comment badge. I think about 59K more to go.
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