why not get rid of the neg. rep option and that way if someone has critiscism then they have to post it with their name. people who have critiscized me in the past have turned out to be good friends once we talked about the problem. And then again some are just fun to be on oppisite sides of the sprectrum with, which also makes for a mutual respect.
Bad Snake, bad 
.
Oh yes! this one is a VERY BAD snake!
Steve, ever thought of starting up a snake-catching business?
why not get rid of the entire system?
i mean what is the entire point of it? unless it is going to get me discounts in the store i do not care if i get positive or negative in all honesty, and i do not recall last time i even gave out reps, to me it is not worth getting upset over
Yeah, reps arenāt really a thing of importance and usually just lead to arguments on various forums. Iāve been on many where this has been a problem, and heck I was even neg repped for wearing IJ once! Ah, good times. 
I dunnoā¦I think thereās a function for the repsā¦When I first joined I found them very helpful, it sort of adds a bit of weight to the advice you get from other membersā¦ If I got advise from 2 people that was contradicting or confusing, Iād personally trust the one whoās been a member for longer and with more repsā¦
To me at least, the reps are an indicator of experience, you donāt get good reps unless you post good stuff (unless youāre a member for ages and wait for the reps you get every 6 months 
)
Thatās true too! Some people do like to use it as a tool to know that the poster can be trusted, and the more reps he/she has obviously that must mean he/she knows their stuff. However, I have come across various people on different message boards where even though they have a high rep count they still do there share of ātrollingā or other shenanigans someone with a low rep count would do. It just depends really.
I personally prefer to use my own judgment and would even trust someone with a low rep count if I think he/she may be right. Just depends.
I got neg repped with ācreepā
like I didnt know thatā¦pssh.
I never got a neg rep - I feel sooo unimportant right now!! 
Youāre gonna get several in the next few minutes, starting.. Now!
Iām with Xiphoid though, I used to gauge the value of responses to my questions by the rep count of the person posting.
Now, I look at my rep count and think," actually, I still know F**k all yet there are some newbies out there who rely on what I say 
"
Really? Now thatās messed up! You donāt look like a creep to me man (no homo!) LOL.
Itās alright Diamond, little did you know we have a system put together where we PM all the newbies and let them know that you may or may not know what youāre talking about. So go crazy!
Ladies and gentlemen and bosshank too
There was once a thread just like this one that started out with for all intents and purposes to be a light hearted way of posting about the silly, ridiculous, funny, often offensive neg reps. It wasnāt meant to be anything other than a way to let off some steam after someone anonymously hurt your feelings. Whether we like to admit it or not, when someone writes something mean to us in the form of a neg rep it hurts. It started out with no ill-intent, just a way for members to voice their opinions that the fellow member who left them a neg rep to at least sign their name to it.
The problem I foresaw immediately is some of the neg reps that are unsigned are simply designed to hurt your feelings. The rep system is built recognize someones post in that it adds value to the forum. Not even that you agree with it, but only that it in itself is a valuable contribution to PheroTalk. While on the other shoe, the neg rep is to rebut a post that adds no value to the forum, where in actuality it takes away value.
This again does not mean that you disagree with your fellow forum member at all. Jeez Jas and I disagree on lots of stuff, but it doesnāt make her post, or mine, any less valid. The system is anonymous because some people want to send their secret crush a + and not let them know who its coming from. I get them all the time .
For the same reason its OK to send a neg to someone when you find their post to be valueless and inappropriate. Its OK not to sign it. I know Iāve sent one to a very well and respected member when I first signed on and didnt sign it. I thought the person was being rude, contentious and outright mean. I also thought the person to be vindictive and didnāt want a their side my side so better not sign it. Iām glad I didnāt. It doesnāt make me a coward or weak. I just wanted to not start a war. I stated my opinion that I disagreed and why. That was that.
The rep system is for that reason. Will there be those who abuse it. Yes and thatās just life. We move on and continue to smile while others wallow in hatred and sadness. We should send them our best and hope that one day they are able to embrace life too for all its splendor.
The reason I bring this up, is that other thread was eventually deleted because in itself it became a hate fueled black hole. I mean people got banned for life because of what was happening! Yeah some of you remember and it was not very friendly like. But you see, thatās exactly what the person who neg repped you inappropriately wanted in the first place. Stating an opinion is one thing, but calling people names is their tool of choice. Ignore it, move on or better yet, wish them well in your heart.
I cannot, nor will I, let this thread take that direction. The forum is a place of love and respect for each other. Please to not allow a person with self-esteem issues bring us down by paying them a silent tribute in a thread like this.
Enjoy life and love
I have to agree with you, Steve. For myself, itās a rare instance when I neg rep someone, but Iāve done it as well, and havenāt signed it. I have, however, stated precisely why I did it, with the hope that the recipient is at least mature enough to consider their words before repeating the instance for which I negged them. You can bet if itās an outright flame, racial epithet, slanderous remark, or unprovoked attack on a personās character, I will almost GLEEFULLY neg them. I do not sign my name because, unfortunately, there exists in society a small group of people who retaliate for no other reason than for revenge, and I want no part in that.
If someone negs you and doesnāt at least explain why, then by all means publicly challenge it if you feel it was unwarranted. However, if there is a clear reason, try to be reasonable about it yourself and try to see from the point of view of someone else if the reason was valid.
-D4
Itās just a feedback tool. Feedback is generally a good thing. We even like ānegativeā feedback here on products, experiments and the company itself so we can improve. Thereās nothing negative about even the worst feedback, when you use feedback to grow.
Unfortunately, some people do use this type of feedback system to āattackā and demean others. Even terrorize 'em to an extent. That is very, very sad, and really not that useful.
The anonymity should be used to allow people the freedom to give truly honest feedback, just like anonymity in the voting box is supposed to let you vote for who you REALLY want. However, Iām not sure terrorizing others is as honest and useful as it is just recklessly violent.
We can make it so you see everyoneās names, but then some people might not want to give their feedback. Or they might sanitize it for āpolitics sakeā. To suck up, or at least not suck down, hehe, whateverā¦ which makes it less than useful feedback.
The other thing we can just do is ban the folks with black hearts. Thatās what Iād really like to do.
We do that on the business side. If someone is ethically misaligned and a nuisance, we just dismiss them. By getting rid of something like just 20 people per year whoāve been unusually cruel or nuisance pests, weāve gotten more than half of each day back(!) which we give to the thousands of kind people who know how to function more with kindness and civility .
Just tell us the exact time and date of the incident, as well as the exact wording. I think we have some sort of mod where we can investigate the instance. If we can see a pattern of abuse, weāll do what they did in the royal days and ban 'em from the kingdom.
Most of us do our very best to kind and humane here. We donāt need a few people feeding off the goodness of the many, and not reciprocating in kind. We have a big, fluffy culture of good bacteria. Weāll happily cut out the one or two bad invading mold spores to keep a good thing good.
I myself have done the same. Make no apologies about it either. Iāve also been phantom negged, but then I just have to make a mere mention of it in a thread such as this and people will shower me in undeserved positives. If you been phantom negged just make a thread about it and collect positives. Hell even you really havenāt just say that you have! If somebody gives you a negative and they sign their name: What better way to spite them then with a positive?
The rep system is just a popularity contest to get points and not anything to do with quality posting right?