<center>![Rep 69.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/nickyhavey/GFQFf6mI-Rep2069.jpg)</center>

# The Sexiest Rep Of Them All - 69 😜 🙊
Haha, sorry, couldn't resist! We're all adults here anyway... I think 😬 But a little look at the number next to my name shows that "final level" before getting to the sought after "70s club".

<center>![image.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/nickyhavey/hRfjKErd-image.png)</center>

# Does It Really Matter Though?
Whilst we're on the subject of rep in today's ramble, does it actually really matter any more? 

I guess a quick explanation of what "rep" is would probably help in understanding this number but essentially, it's a way for the community to measure how much "credibility" an account has on the STEEM network and it increases if you receive upvotes from accounts with a bigger SP and/or reputation score than your own. 

Your reputation can also go down if you receive downvotes from accounts that have a bigger **reputation score** than your own, otherwise, if you get downvoted by someone with a lower reputation than you, then your rep score won't be affected. Rather, just your post payouts if the downvoter has a bit more than 100 SP.

<center>![fake reps.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/nickyhavey/5VnOXrPL-fake20reps.jpg)</center>

# "Fake Reps"?
Before the latest hardfork/STEEM update happened in Summer 2019, it was possible to artificially increase your rep by buying upvotes from accounts bigger than yours, both in terms of SP and reputation score (aka bid bots). The main effect on these were of course seen on the trending page with post payouts but the side effect of that was the increase in reputation. 

Should rep score have been impacted with purchased votes? Probably not but I'm not a coder or programmer so don't really know the technological difficulties of this - I'm just a user of the STEEM platform at the end of the day and my scientific head studies the effects of things. 

What we're left with though is a bit of a divide of those who think it doesn't matter and those who think it does - I'm in the latter.

<center>![honest reps.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/nickyhavey/JxiZdDbe-honest20reps.jpg)</center>

# "Honest Reps"?
The rep system still matters to those who didn't purchase those upvotes from the bid bot era (SBI is a grey area) or at all and many Steemians still share their achievements of reaching certain reputation levels through hard graft and proper networking, manual curation from curation guilds and the like. And rightfully so! 

Now with former bid bots turning to manual curation, your reputation can easily go through the ranks with decent, well crafted content. Again, that's a grey area and down to subjectivity but generally, if you put time and effort in to making your posts entertaining, professional and authentic/honest, you'll do well and will soon level up. 

And I have to say, it does feel good to be amongst those users who've climbed up the ranks just by being around, getting involved and exploring various different parts of this network. Of course I'm grateful for every bit of support from everyone who's upvoted my content and I've enjoyed interacting with everyone I have so far - that's literally what this platform is about - engagement - and therefore the Reputation Score is made for us in this way.

So go celebrate every milestone you've earned on the STEEM platform! Why not?!

<center>https://media.giphy.com/media/g9582DNuQppxC/giphy.gif</center>

# Highest Level?
I believe, the highest rep you can get here is 85 but with each level getting exponentially more difficult, I'll probably be 85 years old by the time I get there!

# Level 70?
I reckon I might get there in about 6 months time haha! I think it took me about 3 months, maybe more to get to 69 so I'm going to enjoy this "adult" rep for as long as possible 😀 

Whatever happens, the main thing is having fun hey?

Catch you soon - where are my fellow 69ers at? 🤭

Nicky