I was just looking through some old posts and some old PM's I have received from friends over the last year.  I noticed many PM's were from friends complaining about red arrows for posts they made.  So, I went and looked at some of the post and I do indeed agree some of the reds were very uncalled for.  In most cases they were because someone had a different opinion than the poster who was complaining.  As I am sure I will receive some reds for this post now.  I think it is time we revisit the reputation system or at least the rules of it.  Personal opinions should not be rated no matter how abhorrent someone finds that opinion.  Personal attacks deserve red arrows, as does vulgarity. 
These are the things Ken looks for and I feel they are what we should be looking for if we are going to give a red arrow:

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I think it is time we get together as a group just as we do with contributions and adjust the system to something that works.  This way there will no longer be reds just because someone doesn't like the color blue.

Quoting Forget_the_Rest:

Quote:
I've been thinking the same thing for a couple of weeks but couldn't have worded it anywhere near as well as this. Thanks!

I think that the option to rate positive posts is fine, but the negative system will always be abused (not just here but everywhere that uses a similar system). So maybe keep the but replace
with something different. Not quite sure what though.

Or maybe if you use a on a post, you must fill in a reason why you're giving it, much like saying no to a contribution but saying which part of the rules the post breaks. If people are forced to give this information, then in my opinion they are less likely to use it just because they don't agree with the post.

Forget, I think that is an excellent idea.  I would like to add though, that the reasoning for the red arrow would be public so everyone can see what the rational is.  The givers identity can remain invisible but the reasoning everyone should know.  This would also give Ken the ability to PM or email those that constantly give inappropriate arrows and let them know they need to stop because their reasoning is not sound.  I know this will open other issues but I think they are smaller than the ones we currently have.

Quoting Lord Of The Sith:

Quote:
I would like to add though, that the reasoning for the red arrow would be public so everyone can see what the rational is.  The givers identity can remain invisible but the reasoning everyone should know...

Such reputation systems always tend to devlope into a "I share this opinion" / "I am totally opposed to this opinion" thingy, at least when it comes to (in regards to the original intention of this forum) off-topic postings.

In the german Heise.de forums it's the same. Intended as "this is a posting worty to read (or not)" it's often about "I do/don't share your view".

I rarely vote either way and I get one or two greens for my occasional technical support posting.

But I also try (sometimes I fail at that) to stay away from any political discussion because I know only bad blood will come out of it.

Quoting goblinsdoitall:

Quote:
My personal impression is that recently the flow of bad reputation marks seems to have died down significantly (except for the notorious political threads which got way out of the forum guidelines).

I totally disagree with that. Quite each of my posts have red arrows, and that is because people disagree with my opinion about rules (I NEVER posted anything about politics). In fact, I do not really need red arrows to know that there are people that disagree with me ( ) , and I really don't care about those arrows ( ), since it will not prevent me to say what I think.

So I think the proposal is interesting.

Quoting surfeur51:

Quote:
Quoting goblinsdoitall:

Quote:
My personal impression is that recently the flow of bad reputation marks seems to have died down significantly (except for the notorious political threads which got way out of the forum guidelines).

I totally disagree with that. [...]

How can anyone possibly disagree with something marked as a personal impression?? 
Does that mean that you don't think I have that impression??  

Voted for "no changes needed"
I think the right guys get the stars, and the right guys stay without them.

And if I get a red in one of the political threads, who cares? From certain people[1] a red arrow is a commendation.

cya, Mithi

[1] No, I don't know the exact person who gave the red, but I know the kind so I'm not losing any sleep over it.

Quoting northbloke:

Quote:
Quoting goblinsdoitall:

Quote:
How can anyone possibly disagree with something marked as a personal impression?? 
Does that mean that you don't think I have that impression??  

No, he's saying that his impression is different.

Thanks northbloke. I don't know why, but everything I write to goblinsdoitall has to be translated again