I think it would be nice if Ashley lowered the requirement by at least 100 reputation points. It's hard enough to get to past 400 from nothing.
One problem I noticed is that noobs can't post their work or progress when requesting help and then some experienced user jumps down the throat of the noob and accuses him/her of wanting all the work done for them. I've read 15+ threads searching for answers and coming across situations like these.
It seems to create a hostile environment of elitism and misunderstandings.
Just my thoughts on it.
Getting points is easy if you are committed to learing the software.
I like this system because it also forces new members to read the manual. Just opening the manual is 25 points. Read 20 pages another 25, read 100 pages 85, etc etc etc.
New users jump straight onto the forum without even bothering to read the instruction manual. They ask the most basic of questions, which would have been solved by reading and going through the manual and tutorials. I think this is a great way to get new users to take action.
As for jumping down throat, I had one case like that, and it was valid as he did want someone to design whole thing. He was rude, demanding etc no matter how much we tried to help him he wanted a capx (which was provided, but it wasn't exactly right - lol - could someone fix it - etc etc etc)
I now check on new users to see how much of the manual they have read, and if you haven't even opened the manual, well, you ain't getting help because you not interested in learning.