I've had to remove a couple instances of this lately. Remember that any reputation must match the post in question. You are not applauding or smiting the poster so much as the post they wrote. You must always be prepared to explain any smite you give and how the post warrants it.
Retaliatory smites are not allowed. It will end up being removed and added to the retaliatory smiter's account. This also includes going through someone's posts after they smited you to find something smite worthy. Your best bet is not to smite anyone who smited you for awhile, to avoid the appearance of a retaliatory smite.
Please think this through. I do remove smites which are a clear case of reputation abuse. But most cases are more ambiguous and I don't always remove those. If a smite is not removed, it does not necessarily mean staff agrees with the smiter. It just means it didn't appear to be a clear case of reputation abuse.
