Hi everybody and thank you for making me feel so welcome. Just one little question: What's this 'reputation'that appears on my profile and why does the number keep changing? (Explain in simple terms please)!

You will see reputation options in the corner below each post. You may see an icon representing the reputation other members have given for that post, along with icons to give reputation. To give the post a positive reputation, click the icon.

Basically if people feel you have contributed with a helpful post or something interesting they can give you a positive reputation point which gives other members an overall impression of how helpful a person is and really that the forum is quite informative.

A way to say welcome and thankyou to other members and promote the community spirit that Bedlington is all about I suppose :-)

Thanks Brettly, it was a bit worrying to find myself getting a reputation at my age! But if it's in the interests of promoting community spirit then I'm all for it.

I wouldn't be under the misconception that it is in any way related to street "credit". That is deemed as uncool if that's not an oxymoron.