Hello fellow eSTEEMed,
The question is: How would you explain a newbie the Reputation System in a creative way?
I choose to use a typical boarding school life in Nigeria to explain how reputation works on steemit. I am just trying to be creative and I hope you enjoy reading it.
When one joins steemit, a number is placed in front person's username showing how much other users appreciate the person. In other words, reputation is their worth based on the trust others have on them and not by the amount of steem power they have.
You are new to steemit like a new student in a boarding secondary school. Wondering if you'll truly make money from writing posts, just like a new student asking if he'll survive in the boarding school. You'll try to acclimatise. Every new member starts with Rep 25, so you try to make meaning to all the terms on steemit like you do with the words, commands and slangs in boarding school.
You now understand the system more, you have juniors now that you can bully. You've made friends on steemit, mostly your classmates i.e. other minnows on steemit. You are now looking to catch the attention of seniors i.e. dolphins and sharks. You go around doing compound work in school trying to get their attention by doing more work i.e. going around looking for dolphins and sharks, commenting on their posts. They know you are trying to woo them to upvote you like a senior in boarding to be your school-father/mother. You'll keep it up and they keep looking at you for how long you can keep it up. You don't relent, you continue to do personal works, being a clean boy/girl and hoping those seniors feel your vibe and take you under their wings i.e. writing good posts on steemit and the continuation of the comment spree to get attention.
Now, You are the leader of the juniors, trying to pass to make it to the senior class. You've made friends with seniors and even becoming a school father in your little way. You keep writing good posts, engaging the more and making more friends. Minnows now woo you too, you are feeling like the boss but still have the dream and vision to be a senior. So no relenting yet.
Yes! You are a senior full time. You love boarding school more now i.e. love steemit to the core. You are a teacher, mentor and role model. More wooing from juniors. You try to give back by helping others as you know what you've been through too. You may want to flex some of your powers, you start looking out for defaulters and punishing them i.e. flagging more spammers than ever and hoping other seniors notice you and accept you more.
You are now the " eyes on me" senior. You left many of your mates behind though they helped in a way or the other to help you get here. Few that are here will feel like they've made it far from Jss1 and form cliques looking around and coming once in while to check on the juniors. They are the millionaire gang. Hopefully, someone will make it to this class, but no one is of that reputation yet.
Yay! You've made it this far, blogging beyond the normal. Feeling you'll soon graduate and may start feeling tired of school i.e. steemit. You feel you just want to find other fun things to do. You've survived and made the billions, lasting relationships and more. More mentees, the paparazzi and all.
They are from the SS3 class but are the few selected that have been chosen to lead all, other members of their class inclusive. They are loved by many and accepted by all (even if it's not true). No one knows who these people will be, I hope to see who they will be.
This is demi god of all users. Juniors look down at his/her sight, scared of his/her countenance but still love to be around him/her. His/her words are final most times. I don't even know what the head boy in steemit will be like and what he or she will do. I hope I last long to meet the first head boy (maybe I'll be the first)
This is my explanation of how reputation works.
You may need to read more if you need more nitty-gritty details. These are my resources:
[AskSteem] What Determines SteemIt Reputation? By 
What is Steemit reputation and how does it work? By 
I hope you liked it. This Post is my entry for the reputation challenge hosted by 
Comment, Upvote, Resteem and Follow
