Oh really? Please explain the primary method of earning a positive reputation here other than trade. I am very interested to see this verbal semantic dance.
Catch scammers.Educate newbies.
Build tools.
Thanks for proving my point.
This is one of my primary grievances with the culture of this forum. If you are right you get to feel good about yourself and tell everyone how great you are for preventing scams, raising your own profile in the process. If you are wrong, oh well it costs you nothing to seriously invade some ones privacy, disrupt their life, income, and possibly burn their reputation. No skin off your back, so fuckem right? I have hockey pads, I can be Batman too!
Actually there are some notoriously ineffective and overzealous scambusters here as well and they are not on DT1 for what is likely to be that reason. I find people who go around accusing everybody of everything to be tiresome and confusing, as do others.
In addition to Vod's list, which is quite apt, you can also build a positive reputation by helping other members and being a generally positive resource for the forum.