"Strikes me that it would have been far more productive to address that deficit than to engage in flaming out."

It's the forum that flames out. I was once a member for years and had a rating of 400 or so, then when I said I didn't like Goto my rating went all the way to -400 - OVER ONE THREAD.

Duplicate post.

3) I don't believe you can get a negative rating - perhaps I am wrong about that one though.

No you actually can. Lowest I've seen so far is -350 or so. Not that ratings matter that much anyway. I've come to the conclusion that the thread creator is a troll, and you know what they say about trolls.

Yes! I've almost achieved my negative rating!

This shows what a farce it is.

When you're a 20 year veteran of the 3D graphics industry and already worked on Madden Football, Far Cry, Doom, Descent and other games, the rating system doesn't disprove you, you disprove the rating system.