First thing I thought about after stumbling onto Steemit, wow, looks like that system they use in "Down & out in Magic Kingdom". Its called Whuffie. I am surprised that people didn't see the connection. Or maybe it was in White Paper? I dunno, didn't read it. (Also, this is my first comment here).
Cool! Welcome aboard. I've yet to read "Down & Out in the Magic Kingdom" but it's definitely high on my queue. I started "Content" recently but haven't had a lot of time devoted to it yet.
Edit: Now that I think about it, the rep system kind of functions like the little voting pods in "The Makers" as well... hiding the things that get flagged too often. Good catch!