I just blame the whore threads. Not insinuating that regular threads didn't contribute to it as well, but the whore threads are typically stupid banter full of useless jokes and conversation, and the whole point of rep is lost when it is being given for a funny joke or "just because they are new".
I didn't like negative rep being taken away (I thnik it helped keep people's mouth's clean) but I saw reason for it to go. I hate that the good rep is going
.