Neg rep is no more

I wish I could neg rep you.

I neg rep this site.

I've decided to remove negative rep from the site. A long time ago, when I built the system (and later reformed it), the expectation was it would be used very democratically, with lots of downvotes that nobody took all that personally. Kind of a Slashdot (and later, reddit) thing. But over time it hasn't been used that way, and it occurs to me that such systems only work when the site's entire identity is built around them. For example, with relatively disposable accounts. It doesn't work on sites with real, consistent identities and lots of people interacting regularly and directly.

Without that, it just causes fights.

So, after having thought about it for quite some time, I've removed negative rep from the site. I am, as always, open to feedback and ideas, but I've gone over a lot of the options in my head more than once over the years, and I'm pretty confident that this type of system is the best for this type of site.

May this usher in a new epoch of peace and prosperity throughout out fine forum. Huzzah.

Do people honestly get butt hurt over getting negged?


lol.

If I was aware of its effectiveness I probably would have utilized it more as well.

Yeah, there's no body mutilation in it