Le Chuck - Sorry. Forgot to mention that I stole half of your idea for the 2-part system.
I like the "follow" idea for browsing, but not so much for rep.
One way to
somewhat do "follow" now is to keep a browser tab open with "user profile - view all posts".
The reason for the 5-star voting is to add a little nuance to the rep system by allowing a range of responses:
* - Strongly dislike/disagree
** - Somewhat dislike/disagree
*** - Neutral
**** - Somewhat like/agree
***** - Strongly like/agree
In 'carrot and stick' terms, the likes are an unlimited supply of carrots, and the review stars can be one carrot, one stick, or one neutral.
I prefer to keep things positive, but there are times where a dose of negative reinforcement can be useful.
Like the old saying goes, "Spare the stick, spoil the forum."
Scott