deleted_user: Removing rep altogether involves commenting out a single function in the existing code. I'd say the latter is an overall better solution, plus it's much less resource-intensive.
Why do we need rep anyway? If someone acts politely, I don't care if they have -2319 rep. If they act like a complete vile untermensch, then a rep on +3259 isn't gonna make them any more pleasant.
phaolo: Because some users act friendly in public (expecially now with the CM), then proceed to harass\scam\leech at the first occasion.
Rep was useful (even if not perfect) to identify such bad people.
The problem is that Gog never addressed the exploits to the system (alts,rep scripts,impersonators,etc).
Removing the rep would just make crappy alt accounts identical to legit ones.
I don't feel this is an issue. I've had the rep removed for the past 7 months and didn't suffer any of the issues you describe. Realistically the vast majority of forums and other types of sites where people interact have removed it altogether and are better off for it. Sure some remain, such as Reddit, but there it's abused all the time. There is really no valid reason for this system's existence.
deleted_user: Removing rep altogether involves commenting out a single function in the existing code.
BKGaming: Basically, but I imagine they won't without something to replace it with. They could also just leave the rep system in place for now but hide it via two "display: none;" in the CSS... or remove that part of the CSS, literally takes 2 seconds.
There are much better ways to highlight good posters or active posters that won't be abused like rep is... at the end of the day we just need a new forum with actual modern features.
We do. =) It's just that this is even less likely to happen.
One sensible solution (at least from the business standpoint, but not necessarily the one I personally would like) would be to close the forum altogether and "outsource" it to something like Reddit.