Is the reputation system counterproductive to Buddhist practice? Are we sure that the search for credit and for approval does not infect the ego of the users of this site?
I think the credit and approval system does what it's supposed to do: highlight the best answers to a question. The fact that it inflates the ego of some vain people is not the problem of the moderation system: it's the problem of the people's vanity. In the same way we don't blame on cars the fact that some people drive dangerously.

You cannot blame a tool for what people make of it. A tool is not good or bad, it's just suitable or not.