Question About Reputation

I had a look through the Reputation FAQ sticky but couldn't find an answer. My question is: What does reputation do?

What I mean is that I understand how reputation works, how to get it, and how to loose it, but what does it do? Why would you want more reputation? Does it give you benefits in the long term?

Cheers

 

Some members consider reputation as one factor before choosing to do business - if you had a red block, it might make people skeptical about whether or not they'd trust you or have any interest in working with you. It might also affect how much people trust your responses compared to others when they ask a question (they might value the answer from an older member with a full rep bar more than one from a new member with a single green blob or red ones).

It's mostly just for fun though - gives folks something to strive for I guess.