There have been a few threads on this already (mainly along the lines of "what the heck is reputation anyway?"), but as intrepid explorer of the FH reputation system, I thought I should add my 2 cents! Below is my collection of questions and answers as pertaining to the reputation system, but this information is far from complete (and also not from the forum moderators/administrators themselves) so I am open to any corrections and additions.
Q1. What is reputation anyway?
Reputation on FH is a way for people to see whether a specific user has a history of posting things that people on the whole tend to agree with (or approve). More specifically, it shows, for lack of a better word, the reputation (credibility, level of contribution, thoughtfulness, etc) of that user on FreddysHouse.
Q2. Why should I give reputation?
If you read a post that amuses you, gives you valuable information, or in some other way contributes to FreddysHouse in a non-trivial way, you should add to that poster's reputation. Not only will it help other people see that this particular poster has a history of valuable contributions to FH, it will also encourage that person to continue writing well-thought-out, funny or informative posts on the forum. In other words, if you like a post, show it and you might get more of the same from that poster!
Q3. How do I give reputation?
You give reputation to a poster by clicking the little scales icon (
) and then the "Add to Reputation" button in the popup you get from that (the icon might look different depending on the forum style). Note that you can only indicate that you approve with a post, i.e. give good reputation to a user; historically, the old FH forums allowed for negative reputation handout as well, but naturally this was abused to no end and was thus removed to only allow for positive feedback. Remember that this might mean that a person with a high reputation may still not be universally liked (since only his friends and not his enemies can show what they think)! 
Also remember that the amount of reputation points you give to a user depends on your own reputation level--the higher reputation you have, the more you will give away (well, you will still keep your own points, of course, but you will have more influence). Furthermore, it is possible that the number of reputation you hand out (and whether you give to the same person) may affect this amount as well.
In some cases you will get the message "You must spread around some reputation before giving it to X again". This means that you have recently given reputation to this poster, and you need to hand it out to some other people before giving it to that user (assumingly to avoid abuse).
Q4. How do I see my own and other people's reputation?
Reputation is shown in two ways: (i) using the green bubbles below your nick and avatar, and (ii) using the tooltip title you get when you move your mouse pointer over these bubbles. You can't see the actual reputation value of other users (only intervals, see below), but you can see your own exact reputation by going to the "User CP" and scrolling to the bottom. Here you will also see the names of the last 10 people who gave you that reputation.
Q5. What are the reputation levels?
Each green bubble represents 100 reputation points. Everyone starts with one green bubble per default, so you basically get this formula: (# of bubbles) = floor((rep points) / 100) + 1. Or, put more simply:
(It seems to be a linear sequence, at least to my current knowledge so far.)
The reputation titles then? Well, they are given out every 100 rep points as well, but starting at the 50s marks instead of the even 100 multiples:
Q6. Is there a relation between my title and my reputation?
Not to my knowledge, no. The title (i.e. "Fledgling Freddie", "Regular Freddie", "Scrounging Bastard", etc) are connected to your postcount, not your reputation.
Q1. What is reputation anyway?
Reputation on FH is a way for people to see whether a specific user has a history of posting things that people on the whole tend to agree with (or approve). More specifically, it shows, for lack of a better word, the reputation (credibility, level of contribution, thoughtfulness, etc) of that user on FreddysHouse.
Q2. Why should I give reputation?
If you read a post that amuses you, gives you valuable information, or in some other way contributes to FreddysHouse in a non-trivial way, you should add to that poster's reputation. Not only will it help other people see that this particular poster has a history of valuable contributions to FH, it will also encourage that person to continue writing well-thought-out, funny or informative posts on the forum. In other words, if you like a post, show it and you might get more of the same from that poster!
Q3. How do I give reputation?
You give reputation to a poster by clicking the little scales icon (
Also remember that the amount of reputation points you give to a user depends on your own reputation level--the higher reputation you have, the more you will give away (well, you will still keep your own points, of course, but you will have more influence). Furthermore, it is possible that the number of reputation you hand out (and whether you give to the same person) may affect this amount as well.
In some cases you will get the message "You must spread around some reputation before giving it to X again". This means that you have recently given reputation to this poster, and you need to hand it out to some other people before giving it to that user (assumingly to avoid abuse).
Q4. How do I see my own and other people's reputation?
Reputation is shown in two ways: (i) using the green bubbles below your nick and avatar, and (ii) using the tooltip title you get when you move your mouse pointer over these bubbles. You can't see the actual reputation value of other users (only intervals, see below), but you can see your own exact reputation by going to the "User CP" and scrolling to the bottom. Here you will also see the names of the last 10 people who gave you that reputation.
Q5. What are the reputation levels?
Each green bubble represents 100 reputation points. Everyone starts with one green bubble per default, so you basically get this formula: (# of bubbles) = floor((rep points) / 100) + 1. Or, put more simply:
Code:
1 bubble = 0 - 99 rep points
2 bubbles = 100 - 199 rep points
3 bubbles = 200 - 299 rep points
4 bubbles = 300 - 399 rep points
[...]The reputation titles then? Well, they are given out every 100 rep points as well, but starting at the 50s marks instead of the even 100 multiples:
Code:
0 - 49 rep points: [i]"X is on a distinguished road"[/i]
50 - 149 rep points: [i]"X will be famous soon enough"[/i]
150 - 249 rep points: [i]"X has a spectacular aura about"[/i]
250 - 349 rep points: [i]"X is a jewel in the rough"[/i]
[further titles unknown to me so far]Q6. Is there a relation between my title and my reputation?
Not to my knowledge, no. The title (i.e. "Fledgling Freddie", "Regular Freddie", "Scrounging Bastard", etc) are connected to your postcount, not your reputation.
