Your reputation is a multiplier on your voting weight - ranging from 0.5× to 2.0×. It’s tied to your PressKey identity, not your current role. Change roles, change outlets, change employers - your reputation travels with you.A new journalist starts at 1.0×. An established journalist with a strong track record reaches 1.7–1.9×. Over time, this creates meaningful differentiation between new voices and trusted ones.
Consistent voting participation is the most reliable path. Vote regularly across a range of topics. Not hundreds of votes on a single outlet’s articles - broad, sustained participation across time.Alignment with court outcomes is the quality signal. When you vote Yes on an article that is later found Fraudulent by the Court, that’s a negative signal. When you vote No on an article that is later Verified - also a negative signal. The protocol retroactively scores your votes against final authoritative outcomes.This doesn’t mean you should try to predict court verdicts. It means you should vote honestly and carefully. If your honest judgment consistently aligns with truth, your reputation grows.Capsule acceptance rate (for Reporters and above) contributes positively. If your published articles regularly pass acceptance, the protocol recognizes you as a reliable source.Juror participation - if you’re selected as a Juror in a court case and complete your deliberation, that’s a positive signal.
Inactivity causes slow decay. Disappear for 30+ days and your multiplier drifts slightly downward. Return and participate consistently - it recovers.Court non-response is the most serious immediate hit. Being named in a court case and failing to respond by deadline creates a significant reputation penalty on top of the bond penalty.Spam patterns - voting hundreds of times on one outlet’s articles in a single day, or voting in patterns that trigger the anti-spam detection - reduce your multiplier and rate-limit your future votes.
Open PressKey. Your current reputation multiplier and effective voting weight are displayed in the extension panel. You can also see your voting history for the last 30 days.In Portal → Your Profile → Reputation you’ll see a breakdown of the factors contributing to your current score.
If your score dropped, rebuild it the same way you built it initially: vote consistently and honestly, participate in court when selected, and publish work that passes acceptance. Major penalties from court findings (Fraudulent label) take 6–12 months of sustained good behavior to substantially recover from.
