How does the reputation work....?

[cornetshell]

i understand that we can give each other reputation on posts etc- but how many to get the gold satrs etc- and what are the limits- how many are you allowed to give out- and why if i only have 6 or something reports of reputation, do i have 17 points, some are gold and some are green...arrgh....im easily confused- please help

[Chris Sanders]

I have 10, 8 green and two gold, plus some of my earlier ones have disapeared, yet I only have 14 points...

[WoodenFlugel]

There have been loads of threads posted about this recently, this one is probably the best:

http://www.themouthpiece.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11552

...so I'm going to lock this one.