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It's theoretical. These assertions are difficult to back up with concrete facts (that doesn't mean it doesn't take place, just that we can't give a laundry list of examples). For instance, it would be very hard to 'prove' someone stopped discussing things due to the fear of negative rep, or 'prove' that low-rep posters were ignored in favor of higher-rep... it's just, in my opinion, a logical assumption to make, that some people will do that... based on nothing more than human nature.
I think relentlessflame brings up a good point, too, that reputation was meant to be a factor on which one was judged. Judging on avatar/location/etc is possible, but likely to not be a widespread practice, whereas rep was meant to serve as some kind of measuring stick (of what, who knows, and that's why they are deciding to rid themselves of it).
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