Couldn't disagree more. Here's my .02: 1. I don't think the existence of reputation causes a great deal of anxiety in our society. In fact, until the advent

Couldn't disagree more. Here's my .02: 1. I don't think the existence of reputation causes a great deal of anxiety in our society. In fact, until the advent of the Internet, this was largely how society functioned: you were known for what you had accomplished or failed to accomplish, for your associations, for your character or lack thereof. This is still largely the way things are, and I don't think most people think about it very much at all. 2. Drawing a corollary between anxiety over damage to your reputation due to poor performance at a previous job and anxiety because too many people down-voted you on Hacker News and now your karma score is distributed is...well...ridiculous. Hacker News isn't real life, and that little number by your username means pretty much nothing. 3. The proposed idea would not stop people from creating new accounts, fake accounts, etc. In no way would this inhibit anonymity, which seems to be what you're suggesting. 4. I doubt if most people would resist the idea that if they build a reputation in one community, it would be transferable to another community. People are lazy, and generally do not resist anything that makes life easier or more convenient for them. Incidentally, I strongly doubt that any of the top 10 reasons why OpenID hasn't taken off are what you stated; people will give up just about anything for convenience sake. OpenID hasn't taken off because most people just don't care enough to try and understand it. Again, just my .02 :-)