[salesman]

I think it should be one or the other -- complete anonymity (no messages either), or automatic signing.

As it stands, people sign all of their +rep because they want it in return, and then don't sign their negative rep because they don't want it in return. Understandable, but if people used negative rep to show when they dislike a post instead of when they dislike an individual, then it wouldn't really be a problem. Nobody is going to go out of their way to get you back for negative repping them if you have a valid reason for doing it (unless they're a total *****, in which case you shouldn't care about it anyways).

I've negative rep'd friends, and I've given positive rep to people I can't ****ing stand, because I'm repping the post, not the person.