[Jammin]

I think rep, despite how silly internet points are, are a rather fundamental operation to the forums. It is not only a measure of how much value one's opinions have in the community, but also a contest, if you were, of popularity - popularity that stems from putting in proper effort and research into your posts.
Outside of certain hivemind posts, which are generally few and far in between, I've noticed that even negative/critical posts tend to get +1's if they are approached with the intention of constructive criticism and based on a factual basis, which is why I've supported rep coming back since it was removed (despite my position in the top 40 or whatever).
I feel that while the forum staff team has higher priorities at the moment, they should consider expanding on the statistical analysis available with forum rep, as I feel it is a measure of one's value to the community, just as much as it is silly internet points.