Kevin and I have exchanged multiple PM's about reactivating it but for some reason he's under the incorrect impression it will "slow down the site". Funny thing is that since the rep system is active changing the style of it, actually being able to give positive or negative instead of neutral, will not change the speed or impact anything. This is from years of admin'ing a Vbulletin site about 20 times larger than this site. I'm guessing that some people are in his ear who don't like the rep system as they have no control over it. My last couple of PM's have been read without a reply.
Dan
It would also fit with banishing the "Race to 50" thread , more people means more page views that equals sweet sweet ad $$$$, that or getting newbies to just pony up the $20 for a site supporter. The negative rep and other things like that pushed allot of "classified trolls" away from the site.