Why is there a daily limit on earning Reputation Points?
Whilst I understand that there is a daily limit of 10 for voting on someone's answer, because this discourages people from constantly clicking to gain points, I don't understand the logic on putting a maximum of 200 on reputation points.
There is no daily limit on learning points or badges. Earning a reputation and learning both require hard work and I would have thought there was not a difference in how they are scored.
If I were to come up with an absolutely brilliant question that provoked 1000 views and 500 answers and 250 votes, the absolute maximum reputation I could gain would be 200 points and that assumes that I hadn;t done anything else in the previous 24 hours.
I know that points aren't everything and that the learning process is the thing. I am just questioning the logic.
2 Answers
Hi Mortimer, let me try to give you my point of view.
So you have friends on Facebook (or Twitter or tuenti...) and tell your friends to come on to the forum and vote, and vote and vote...
In no time at all, in one week probably, or even less you would have enough reputation to edit, post reference articles..and what is worse, edit reference articles. 
We have seen, that reputation can be dangerous. While we always wish to think that adults behave as such, some simply don't. Abusing the edit function can be an issue and if reputation points were given without a certain limit, soon this forum would be clustered with people not known to the admins and the forum, editing along and doing all kind of strange things. Actually both Eddy and I expressed our doubts to the creator of this site about the creating of reputation, as we saw even then the danger in that
However, it has proven to be very popular and we had no problems with the people who gained reputation (except this one case, which does not count)
Actually, we are very happy with this function, we have found so many people helping out to make this place a better place that the very reputation which can be abused, has helped us to keep this forum as friendly as it should be
I don't actually know the reasoning behind this, but my guess is that it has to do with checks and balances to a certain degree. There is no limit on learning points, because all learning is beneficial. As for the badges, they are a fun way to acknowledge progress, but they do not allow any further privileges on this site.
As to reputation, certain levels unlock certain features on this site. For instance, when reaching the 2,000 point mark, you have permission to edit the posts of others. At 5,000, you are able to create and edit reference articles. So for arguments sake, someone may ask a very controversial question and for some crazy reason may accumulate 2,000 points in a day or two. Just because this happens, it does not mean that the member has either the knowledge or the maturity to edit someone else's work. During the time it usually takes to reach 2K, the member has to prove on a continual basis that they have quality information to share with this forum. They have also spent enough time here to know how things work and have earned the "reputation" of being a valued member of this community. They have proven that they are here in the best interest of the site and want to make positive contributions to it.
I know that is not the official answer, but it is my best guess. I'm sure one of the administrators can clear it up better for you.
