You could be right Abe. I guess I just have more faith in common sense, that people wouldn't rate down a newbie just for asking a commonly asked question.
The thing about sense is that it's far from common.
I like the idea of rating posts rather than people, but it's likely to spin out of control either way. Remember when /. first started moderation? They had to add meta moderation to help balance the crazies and the cranks. It works better now, but it took a long time and is still a little questionable.