First of all, I feel vindicated after "Community Wiki" and SO meta-discussion and I'm mostly asking this to gloat.
But wouldn't it make sense for rep points from Meta to transfer back (maybe at a reduced exchange rate) to the other sites?
I never, ever liked the concept of rep following knowledge (I think Jeff would fairly say "helpfulness") rather than community building, but I think now it could follow both.
Hopefully not.
Talking endlessly about the site and repping like a WoW gold farmer doesn't mean squat when you're in the other box and that rep is focussed on programming knowledge.
Even at any kind of exchange rate, the level of trust that builds up in the number next to your avatar should correlate to the time and involvement you expend on that particular site.
I have 101 rep on ServerFault. I answered one question without an upvote. Now imagine I could transfer 500 or even 1000 rep from MSO to SF. You think this would be a good idea? Yes? Think again!
While I agree that reputation is earned through your ability to communicate effectively, its still very rooted in knowledge. I don't think we'll see someone hit 10k within a year by asking lots of good questions.
The check and balance of rep is how long it took to get that rep. Wholesale transfers of reputation would put that check in a rather egregious and unnecessary peril.
While reputation is supposed to be just a reward for people who participate, its also an influencing factor on what advice / answer people take. Humans work that way, the higher the number, the 'better' the answer might be (if even at first glance).
