How does the reputation score work?

When I started to answer questions on 2/4/11, I was just bored, and I found the site looking at stuff for RuneScape. I answered some questions to the best of my ability after making an account with the same name as my RuneScape name (I figured they must've been connected somehow), and then I got some points of some sort. Reputation things. I wondered how this is, and how I can find out what or where they came from?

Posted by Ryan, the site founder in 2009:

eHelp.com is a reputation based community. You can gain reputation scores by asking quality questions (clear and useful) and posting helpful answers. When other users vote your question or answer up, you will receive 5 points of reputation, but when they vote it down, you'll lose 2 points. If your post gets removed by the moderator/reputable users, you'll lose 20 points.