Yes... Exactly....
But in all seriousness... Many posters 'Reputation' Bars are accurate.
There is supposed to be 1 bar for so many years a poster has been a member here, and a specific number of posts.
Sometimes, if we notice a poster's is way off we try to get it close.
But posters can give each other rep as well, but as some of yuou have probably noticed, you have to spread it around to 20 posters before you can credit that same poster again...