Make the reputation command usable to add or subtract a star by
player input (leave all the auto stuff the way it is) but if an
imperial character has a 0 rep with the fort he's not going to care.
and imms don't have to ignore whiny complaints ... wait MORE whiny
complaints or suckup stories of how cool bob's friend is. And the
players can have a little input. Make it where you can go rep bob
and see that bob seems to be well liked by empire though he is a
gnome.(or things like that) Only one star up or down per character
per character. Gives the players a little bit of individual input
but no severe game effect, a douchebag will get known as one even if
you haven't had dealings with him. It would make the reputation command
have a little pizzazz as well. I have no idea how much effort this would be to impliment, and if it is even enough different from the
above to be workable.
For less scamming you make it where it can only be done when both
characters involved are online and if you delete or con die your
'opinion star' dissappears. It could still be done but it would be
too much effort for most people for little gain and the most common
form of 'cheating' for this kind of deal would be easy to note 2 guys on the same ip repping up bob the gnome... etc...

Again just my 2 bucks.