Wow! Unpleasant situation, @piedpiper, but, I'm sure the developers will fix it. However, I suddenly have the desire to keep all my posts on the HDD :)
Regarding reputation. It seems to me, that's the trending topic of the past 3 days. I've only been here a couple of weeks, so I'm still quite a novice. But what you wrote in your article is true. Indeed, at first glance, it seems that large awards for posts - it's just a game of chance. Maybe it happens in some cases. But it is hardly possible to seriously count on such luck constantly.
And in this sense are very instructive @moonflower story, about which @stellabelle wrote 2 days ago. Reputation earned long and hard, but lost quickly and easily. I think this project will teach many of us to be more mindful of our words and actions. And that is really useful skill ;)