rep is useful (in a small way) now that it's linked to getting an avatar
btw if rep was visible, any 'heavyweight reppers' who returned neg-rep unjustly would soon be exposed and ridiculed (and hopefully neg-repped en masse)
and iirc the big fuss about the short time it was visible was related to people being able to see the old anonymous rep suddenly made public.
One more thing : I expect there's an admin option to stop moderators seeing who repped them. If anonymous rep is so wonderful, why not join us?