vHi, sorry to necropost but...

I'm pretty sure I understand now the *basics* of how the rep thing works. And I kind of get why, since it's a sort of ranking system, you need to *have* rep, before you can give it... else some spammer/troll would come along and make 50 accounts and rep himself to god-mode... but...

I don't know how to say/ask this. I'll just use me as an example to start with. I'm (obviously) new here. And (more obviously) know nothing about cartography. So my first goal is (as it will be for most new people) to *learn*.

My initial visit, I was looking for an answer to a specific question. I read *massive* numbers of threads (post by post) and finally found the answer. After I registered, I went back and liked the post... or repped it? I'm not sure which, because, I repeat: >>Newbie<< .

I've also found 2 or 3 other posts that REALLY taught me something great, and either repped/liked those as well. Point being "Newbie wants to learn" and "This post actually helped". Since the point of "Tutorials" and "Guides" and such (which are a large portion of the forums) are meant to *teach*, I think this point is important. I think the fact that those posts educated people that DON'T know cartography.. that matters.

So I was a little distressed today to find out that the reps or likes or whatever I gave... (from what I understand) those didn't count for anything? Not only that, but I can never go back and re-do it? It is like a thank you card getting lost in the mail, and then the person moves away - you feel guilty every time you use their gift!

Unless I'm understanding wrong. Should I avoid that rep button until/unless I actually have some rep to give away?

And I still don't get what the difference is between reps and likes?

I don't want this to sound like a complaint, because it's not. I think it's a much better way of ranking contributions than whoever's post count is "over 9000". Rather, I'm struggling for clarity, as well as pointing out that (from my understanding) there's a hole in the system where a lot of genuinely helpful posts probably aren't acknowledged. What may seem basic to the "old-hands" at mapping, and therefore go unnoticed, is often truly helpful to the *beginners*.

Unless, again, I'm understanding wrong. So I guess my questions, in a very general sort of way, are 1) Am I correct in how the rep system works, 2) What is the difference between reps and likes, and 3) How can a newbie express their appreciation for something that really helped them?