Andy removed the rep. No one can give or receive rep for now. He may make some changes in the future. Our rep has been saved.
Get rid of rep but add a report button would be my suggestion when people are trolling or posting stuff that is out of line it could just be reported so the staff could check out the post instead of having to send a PM.
How about this: 1. Each member has a pool of ten rep points you give out, positive or negative. No more. 2. When you give someone a rep point, one point from your pool will be deducted. 3. After thirty days, the rep point you have forfeited by giving it to another member will be added back into your pool of rep points. The timer would apply per point, you would not get a full recharge every 30 days. 4. If, perhaps, you wish to further fight abuse of negative rep, make the recharge time for negative rep points 45 days. This way, we still have a rep system but it is much harder to abuse, and since it would be a limited commodity, there will be greater incentive for members to use them wisely and in moderation. Perhaps the upper limit may be raised over time through some incentive or another. I'm fine with or without the rep system personally, but this is just a thought.
I think the problem is that any "custom" rep system would have to be hand-coded. I suspect (though I do not know for sure) that the reason Andy just turned off all the rep was that it was easier than trying to design and program a customized one, and he was tired of dealing with the fallout from the minority who were abusing it.