<off topic> Notting dude that avatar is pretty slick </off topic> Yea the neg rep is always in effect.
Thanks mdvaldosta! Couple of nice people have commented on it! *Pleased Edit: Double checked. I didn't get "charged" for my last red rep i gave. Even checked that I did accidentally give a +ve rep
Not always, Only if your rep can affect other people. means if you can actually give out rep which appears red. if it is grey then you will not get -1 thingy. cases in point: 1) If you are repping someone in GC area. 2) If you are a newbie (with less than 50 posts/10 rep points) , BTW I am not 100% sure about newbies, coz I dont have any first hand experience.
If you left someone with a -ve - when you click the post again it says: "you must spread some reputation around before giving it to XXXX again" If you leave someone with +ve rep - when you click the post again it says: "You cannot give reputation to the same post twice" ....is that right? Aha!! The Webmaster Holmes has solved the mystery. It was in general chat area.... Case closed!!
I second that, pretty neat. However, i am using the blue theme for my profile, i am sure it would be looking a lot better on the default green one. Transparent GIF, maybe!!??