Forcing users to leave comments would have the effect that Assassin mentions ... people who didn't want to comment would write garbage. It would have the added effect of discouraging people from using the system.

Moderating (as in approving) the rep hits would be a pain. I've been keeping an eye on who hits what, and have deleted/adjusted a couple of hits that I felt were inappropriate, but for the most part it seems to be fine. Further, making it a moderated medium would remove the direct feeling of influence that people have, and would slow rep distribution quite a bit. I don't think it's a good idea. If I felt that such a thing was necessary -- if the reps were getting too out of hand and problems were happening because of it -- I'd just turn the damned thing back off.

But that's not how I feel about it. People are generally good. Sure, there's some things that happen that you may not feel are appropriate, or may not agree with entirely... but that's the whole "don't take it too seriously" idea!

While the system is in some sense a tool to leave feedback for people, it's also a toy intended to play with and enjoy ... something to encourage participation in general. I like that people are using it, but seriously, don't obsess over it or anything ... just let it slide.

Oh yeah .... if you're seeing particularly bad (inappropriate, for example) comments, drop me a pm.