Even though someone else mentioned many forums use rep, but this is only the third site that I have been involved with that has. The biggest one is Slick Deals. I know a little about their rep as I looked into it when I first started getting it, so I thought I would post a few comments about their system since they have had theirs for a while and have ironed out the kinks. This is just FYI, mainly because I see some are worried about abuse.
First off, actual rep (green rep) only starts when you reach a postcount of 50, which discourages ppl from creating dummy accounts to rep themselves with. They also prevent over-repping by limiting you to rep the same person once every 15 reps. (A "spread it around" msg pops up if you try too soon.) They don't have a daily max of rep you can give, so if you are industrious it is possible to rep a member twice in one day, but never the same post twice. They also have a time limiter to repping, where you can't rep a post older than 2 months (or so)... it tells you when you try. You can still give a member rep by finding a new post of their's.
Once your rep hits 100, your name gets bolded to easily distinguish you as a helpful contributor. They also have different colored dots for your rep icon, but I think those only change at ~1000/2500/5000+ reps. Newbies who have an awesome first post, however, won't "go bold" until they hit some magic postcount number (50 I think).
If you big rep giver, they italicize your name so ppl can see you are generous. Rep power increases solely by time, adding a point for each year of membership. (The highest rep power I have seen is +4, so they may even cap it after a while). I think that making time the sole factor in determining rep power is a little limited, but it does prevent forum fixtures from being able to move mountains. (The other site I go to is determined by postcount and has a cap of 15, so there are many moutain movers over there.
)
A few years back they removed the negative repping, or "nerping" as it is called. Apparently, there was waaaaay too much abuse with it. Plus they already had the Thumb Up/Thumb Down thread voting, which is a akin to our star voting just a little more transparent. The thing is, I do believe there are posts that are so extremely unhelpful, rude, or inflamatory that they should get nerped. I think the best way to handle it is 1 nerp power for all, even those with big rep powers, so bad posters will get the message, but not get pummelled into oblivion. Also, I think mods should watch for nerp abuse as much as "friendly voting".
One last thing, I read in the FAQ that you are supposed to be able to see the reps received. What I think should be added is the ability to see Reps Given. I gave a rep earlier but did not see it reflected. I have no clue if this is due to low post count, old post, or what have you... if it were low post-count and we had a Reps Given tab, I would be able to easily see that I gave Grey (non-counting) Rep to the member.
I think overall rep on this site is not as important as others since the postcount is not displayed in each post. (In fact, I often times look at the Collection # and think I am seeing postcount...
) Rep is important on those sites since some ppl mistakenly believe high postcount = helpful member, which may or may not be the case. On those sites, new members can see that just because someone has been around a long time doesn't mean they are particularly helpful, and just because someone isn't around a lot doesn't mean they aren't.
Anyway, just some info along with my 2 cents.
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Stupid feature. :childish folder arms smilie: 
It goes away upon a refresh when the +1 is added.
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