Okay, I've resisted jumping into this conversation for as long as I possibly could but now, I'm breaking the silence. Not like this is a huge thing, but...
*tosses in the two pennies*
I think what Cappy is trying to say, Ace, is STOP FEEDING THE TROLLS.
The more you bitch, the more you are going to attract their attention, which is going to turn around and make YOU bitch more and it's just going to become an endless cycle of what sounds like e-peen whining.
Face the fact that rep system is going to stay where it is. You mentioned before that it can hurt potential developers if people see all the neg rep. If said developers cannot stand by the merit of their work alone and if the one reviewing them is shallow enough to take ONE FORUM and ONE GROUP instead of the work itself into account, then maybe they shouldn't be the one you should be looking at to back your work.
While this thread is meant to both alternately make us laugh and give props to people who have pos-repped us and call out/retaliate against those who have given us neg-rep, this argument has been going in way too long (imho). Yes, pointless neg reps are annoying. Yes, unfair and anonymous neg-reps suck. But there comes a time when you hike up your big boy panties and move on. Criticism exists. As one who creates something that is put out there for others to sample and judge, you have to remember to separate the constructive criticism from the non and the bullshit. Yes, it's okay to rant about it for a little while. I find that helps me move on. I also find it helps me to do something BETTER so they have nothing more to say. (Although some people will find fault in everything you do because they just suck like that.) Thicken the skin, keep doing what you're doing if it makes you happy and makes others happy, and just (and I hesitate to say this, but...) Let it go. Just let the other shit go. It takes a while, but it will happen.
That went on longer than I thought it would. *gets off soapbox and goes back to gaming*