Acabo'oe; it's my understanding that you start with 10, and go up/down from there.
NukeDOC; IMO, the 'votes' or whatever should remain anonymous (to joe-user, anyways) unless the person offering it elects to either reveal themself in the comments (or by some other means). If something I post is useful to somebody, I don't shivagit who it is, I'm just glad to help. The negative side might be a factor though if some fool decides to get abusive.
Lastly, I'm a firm believer in thanking and encouraging people who contribute, and there are lots of them here, which is why I dig this forum so much. BUT, it seems that there is a limit to how many rep votes I can deal out in a 24hr period, and whatever that limit is, I suspect it is set too low for the amount of contributors we have here, so can we increase this?? If so, maybe increase it quite a bit at least at temporarily as there are lots of existing threads that are deserving of rep votes, but as set now, I feel like I have to conserve my 'thanks' but there are many here that are worthy.
Anyways, I'm glad this feature has been added!
Have fun!