I believe that the reputation of hive is a middle ground, as for some it is nothing for others it is an important number, as you said yourself, it indicates how long someone has been here and much more, if the person has a short time of HIVE and a high reputation means that he really did a lot in a short time.
This reputation I see as a degree of trustworthiness that we have in a person or profile, if he has that high number, he probably did something that enchanted people to vote for his posts. it's my point of view.
!PIZZA
In an ideal world I would agree with you but not on Hive. There has been times when reputation could be pumped using bidbots. The other thing why I don't trust reputation is because you can have the highest reputation and still be an abuser.
The only thing that matters is what you do on Hive.
Yes, on this point of bots we agree, to this day there are still some forms, such as thealliance projects, SOL token in which even I participate as well.
The really cool thing is the interaction and the hard work that each one does, this is the reputation that we all have to realize! Strong hug.