That's something I've wanted for a long time. Sometimes it's easier to put somebody on ignore when they're derailing a thread than kill the thread or engage in the flamewar.
The problem is that it's not just the downrepping it tends to reinforce the views others have. What might have been a poorly thought out post can easily be reinterpreted as trolling.

As my dad would often say, "Accentuate the positive."

I like the idea of ditching the minus button altogether but keeping the plus button. It is in keeping with another old saying that is wise, "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything."

If someone feels strongly that some counterpoint should be made to a post, they are free to do so in any case. Removing the minus button eliminates abuse of it and compels people to either speak up if they feel it is warranted or else, let the small stuff go better still.

I hope GOG will at some point make this improvement to these forums that I like so well.

inb4 roman comes in asks for promised forum features - ignore user

I guess I'll be the odd man out and say that I don't see much of a problem with the current downrepping system. As it stands it basically acts as a more subtle way of telling someone "you're being an ass" as opposed to directly calling them out and starting an off-topic flame war. I see it as pretty much the equivalent of multiple people giving someone disapproving looks in a face-to-face group conversion- a semi-subtle way of letting them know their current approach isn't appreciated. Also, since there really isn't any meaningful consequence to a post being downrepped it again only acts as social signalling which the person is free to either take something away from or completely ignore.

Is that a complaint about roman, ignore user or both? :P

Personally I think ignore a user is a good idea. It's better to ignore people than to start a meaningless fight, wouldn't you agree? Some people's chemistry won't mix, it's as simple as that.

Indeed.

hehe if you ignored roman half of the topics on gog would disappear but im ok with him .

what i meant was ya downrepping does show that people are not happy with your thoughts and provides a ninja protest
without it would just turn into senseless bashing if each one called out the other.

or provide a means to ignore the person totally

Not really a ninja protest. More like a back stab because you are attacking someone when you down
rep one of their posts. Reputation is important here so lowering one's reputation is not
harmless like protesting. It would be more harmless to troll someone or be nasty to that someone with a post.

In what way is it so important?

Edit: Also, I thought everyone said rep doesn't matter. :P
Edit 2: http://www.gog.com/wishlist/site/allow_us_to_set_certain_forum_members_to_ignore

Giveaway participation, dude. Remember, rep requirements for giveaways are commie nazi rapemurder. (Yes, I have screencaps.)

mostly i think how it works is if you disagree with the decision to downrep then it was the latter
in your opinion which some times hypothetical you will state and probably attracting down
reps to that post too? so its pretty subjective for the most part of when its happening or
not(except the 1 or 2 times its obvious, but mostly it seems oppinion then again i'm a noob so
whatever)
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does anybody actually pay attention to that little number?
I saw it stated so many times it had no meaning yea i did that a few times too
i think the assassin's creed guy was mostly because he came so soon after one of anso's alts and asked for the same thing in the same thread that some people thought/assumed he was him at first and set out to burn that identity too. so it was kindof a fluke not really a reason to scrap the entire system but then again i never like removing features(except facebook connect sites should strip that out wherever possible)
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unrelated but does the forum format anybody else's comments strangely today? it keeps adding linebreaks to mine for no reason

What's the point of having a community forum and you can't having a fight, member bashing, trolling, spamming and downrepping? happy forum post are for hippies and flower loving kitties.

I love forum fights. They are not boring and everybody got involve, everyone's alive.
if you don't want to be downrep, just don't post anything that everybody wouldn't agree.

A low or negative rep gives people a bad first impression of you.

Believe me I'm not in favor of happy, happy joy joy forced cheerfulness. There are a few people in this community that get under my skip a little too, but I think the point of this discussion that the OP is trying to get across is that:

Downvoting just because it is a certain user that is posting is not cool
Downvoting b/c of spam ok

Downvoting b/c of disagreement: IMO, it depends.
If it is relevant to the topic and contributes something, c'mon downvoting is a real cheap. At least explain why.
If the post in question is attacking a la "You have to be a complete idiot to think that way, because clearly [blank] is a far better game then [blank], n00b!" A downvote would be legit in this context, because their is nothing productive to the discussion at all added for it.

Personally, I think forum fights are a bit pointless, but a nice, heated discussion can be interesting to read. My two cents

And how do you get low or negative rep? By giving people a bad first impression of you. See?