zeogold: Oh? I assumed the negative people were pushed into that because they were spammers or scammers or trolls or something. I did say I was new here, mind you.
tinyE: OneFiercePuppy is not a scammer. Neither is apehater, or stg83, or l0rdtr3k, just to name a few. They are at a negative, as I will eventually be, because of scammers, not because they are scammers.
apehater's rep was on a rollercoaster already when I signed up a year and a half ago. He may be a generous member ([
snicker]) of the community, but he's also a paranoiac asshole who's been going around accusing new users (or those new to the forums, anyway) -- who have never posted anything negative, nor scammed anyone -- of being alts, and questioning even the smallest gain in rep,
based on no 'evidence' other than their sign-up date. Anyone calls bullshit on his witch-hunting? Why, maybe
they're just another alt, too. That kind of shit is not only not cool (not even on the same
continent), it's the kind of thing that can poison a whole community if it spreads.
Also, I think the problem of "scammers" downrepping people is probably somewhat overstated. Scamming is not the only reason serial downreppers do what they do -- some just get off on it. All it takes is forming an irrationally strong grudge against someone and having no personal life outside of pursuing various Internet vendettas.