Wow, a lot of great comments and food for thought. Instead of answering each individually I will make some general comments here. To be clear, I think that onli

Wow, a lot of great comments and food for thought. Instead of answering each individually I will make some general comments here. To be clear, I think that online rep is unavoidably going to have impacts in real life. (How many here have looked at someone's profile to judge them when engaging in a discussion, or have done an online search to learn about that new girl or guy you are dating?) How this plays out I have no idea -- we are in the middle of a social revolution, see Clay Shirky "Thinking the Unthinkable". I didn't mean to imply that online rep does not have serious pros and cons and potential abuses that many mentioned -- so don't kill the messenger. Ultimately I think that one's reputation is an important value and people learning to behave in ways to protect it will be a good thing.