I would participate more but, I have trouble because I don't have enough rep...

Currently, I can only do 2.5 things:

• Ask Questions
• Provide Answers
• comment on stuff I've written myself or on answers to my own questions.

I've had several instances that I've had something constructive to say that I cannot use the proper facility for simply because I have not used the site for very long. Whereas other people that have used the site for longer and have written something outright wrong but I can do nothing about it because I don't have enough rep yet.

The current rep model is almost exclusively an indication of amount of participation, and not quality of participation. Why are privileges so heavily tied to reputation? For example, the ability to vote down on things, if vote up requires 15, why does vote down require 125.

Can anyone thing of another way to help reduce spam on a system that does not require so much reputation to participate on?

I would participate more but, I have trouble because I don't have enough rep...

Currently, I can only do 2.5 things:

• Ask Questions
• Provide Answers
• comment on stuff I've written myself or on answers to my own questions.

I've had several instances that I've had something constructive to say that I cannot use the proper facility for simply because I have not used the site for very long. Whereas other people that have used the site for longer and have written something outright wrong but I can do nothing about it because I don't have enough rep yet.

The current rep model is almost exclusively an indication of amount of participation, and not quality of participation. Why are privileges so heavily tied to reputation? For example, the ability to vote down on things, if vote up requires 15, why does vote down require 125.

Can anyone thing of another way to help reduce spam on a system that does not require so much reputation to participate on?