IM-very-very-HO, I would think the dots AND the no. of posts ( note the AND ) sufficiently good indicator of the value / reliability of the post. Agree, for newly joined experts this may not be a good indicator, but, overtime, it certainly can be.

It is just a way of weighing a particular post. If it were a single line of comment from a veteran and with good rep points, perhaps there is some info in there that is to be considered and I would ask for more info, where as , if it is the same one liner from a newbie chances are , I will look further and look at what other posts have to say.

It is similar to any reviews we see onsite on products we buy e.g. a music CD. My tendency would be to read through all the comments / reviews posted for a particular album and come up with a judgment myself with all the info I have. I would look at what the reviewers have posted elsewhere and things like that.

To me, rep points is a nice way to say a post is good and gives info in , in my opinion, the direction of doing things the right way or the better way. That is easier to do with rep points than post a reply saying "Oh well, what you say sounds like the right approach". I guess, in this respect, these rep points ARE in fact to prevent such "good answer" spam.

For that matter, why is any info at all required there about the poster ( Join date, Location, member status like Power poster blah blah ) ? What does that mean. Hey !! You better listen to me , cos I am a power poster ?? Why not have something like , say years in software industry ? Maybe that holds much more relevance, maybe not.

As for people having "rate me in their signature" or whatever , I don't care. I don't get swayed by these. It is their signature and they are entitled to put anything there. If someone feels good getting a pat on the back , so be it. What is wrong with that ? It is like anything else, some one posting their photo, some one posting a link to their blog/website. It is ultimately to feel good. If I don't like that, I ignore them. That is all.