I stopped coming to ninja thread a couple months after I started using the forums here, mostly due whining. That was quite a while ago now. This is the first time I've been back, because the mysterious super-low rep some people have and I was curious to why. I see why for some of them. This is one of the most popular threads on the site, so 100 people downrep 5 posts, I don't what the exact math is, but the effect is very large on one's rep.
My advice to someone that's not too far down the whole that wants to turn it around, visit the individual game sub-forums and answer people's questions, be helpful and a valued member of this community. The rep will shoot way back up. Also, run a clever give-away in it's own thread. Some people don't like individual giveaway threads, but most of us don't really care or use filters so we don't have to see them. You're not gonna be down-repped for it. And you'll get a lot more people popping by to say, "Hey, good on you! not in but +1" Do those a few times and just stay out of the freebies threads, and you'll be good.
Then again, a lot of those that I've seen with the super low rep, after reading over a lot of their posts in just this thread alone, they have deserved it. Maybe they don't deserve the epic pit they dug themselves that they can't climb out of, just because of the shear volume of down-reps a super popular thread like this creates, but they have shown themselves to be incredibly greedy and insincere. I'm not convinced there is a bot that is being used to neg rep people, but I've only just started looking. A couple people that I trust here have told me that's what it is, I'm just trying to figure things out myself.
All that said, I kinda wish I never stopped coming here because over the last couple of months this place is drama city that could win a daytime Emmy!