Why do we think we can give a score to our happiness?

Slashdot, Everything2, Epinions and others allow you to "rate" other people - their comments and their opinions. Some net dating agencies give you a compatibility score based on comparing your data to other people's. I'm sure that in the future, cross site "reputation managers" will exist; this will allow someone with a high slashdot karma to carry more weight in, say, an amazon book review.

Am I the only one who finds this abhorrent? Yes, I know that I am The pot calling the kettle black, I am posting this to a website that will reward me with XP.

In future, will people rely solely on a score? Will I refuse to communicate with someone who is a lower level than me? Are we tearing down one class system only to replace it with another?

It's more like real-world reputation than a caste system. Who's more likely to get quoted in a newspaper: me, someone with a PhD in the topic in question, or my crazy neighbor? If by some fluke we all did, which quote do you think a reader is going to take to heart the most?

Unlike a newspaper however, most reputation systems are user-controlled: I choose what level to browse on Slashdot, and e2's rep is more for user feedback than actual moderation, except in extreme circumstances. And there has to be some level of moderation to most large sites, otherwise the flood of information will drown its users.

Another point I thought of recently: On the Internet, anyone can start over. You can always create a new account, and start out from nothing. It's like being able to go bankrupt every day - it makes it pretty unlikely that people will be stuck with issues from past and changed behavior.

So while it's a good thing to keep in mind, I doubt your worst-case scenario will ever even come close to happening.

P.S. This node's title is misleading - reputation doesn't equal happiness.