@ Chimp:
well obviously certain ratings should be kept to certain sections.
but given the ever increasing quanities of trolls, and people who simply have heard the wrong things and are spreading that info as facts, it is mainly the useful/useless rating that is important. it will flag posts not to be taken seriously, without going as far as reporting them, which may be inappropriate.
@TwoCables:
It's not any different from real life. If you make a joke and nobody laughs (or they pretend-laugh), that's the same thing. That's simply how life works, I cant help that either.
>What happens if your post gets a bunch of negative feedback from everyone else?
This is exactly what we want. If misinforming posts dont get any feedback, the poster wont ever know his information is wrong, and will keep spreading it. For example, a thermaltake user who didnt have his unit fail (yet), might actually recommend it. There have been people ignoring the warnings, because there were also people claiming the units ran fine. Negative feedback can help decrease such situations, for the greater good.
And i disagree on your last point in that post. People will try to give negative feedback one way or another. This way, it is anonymous, and merely a statistic. if people have to post to do it, in their bad mood they may offend eachother much more easily.
And how can you not like the rep system? it shows people who to trust. Its not 100% failsafe, but a great rule of thumb. We are a community to help people, and therefore we must strive to help people any way we can. this, as well as the rep system are ways for people to know what help is actually help, and what help may be meant well, but is actually a bad idea. (or just flat out trolling).
In the end, you will hurt people much more with misinformation, than with proper feedback.