"When you have to worry about your reputation, you will not speak openly."

When you must worry about reputation, you're forced to be more thoughtful about what you say which tends to lead to more productive conversation. Look no further than anonymous social networks like Whisper and Secret, which both flopped because of the low quality conversation that went on as a result of the anonymity.

I generally think reputation is a good thing for Steemit but you pose an interesting perspective -- will be interesting to see how it evolves.