cogadh: I would think that might be the case if it wasn't for the fact that it always seems to be multiples of 10 points lost.
I just lost 2. Not a multiple of 10.
I know balancing the books is part of what's going on. My rep's been in error a couple of times (once not credited for posts marked as solutions, once credited too many times), and the update corrected it.
The multiple of ten thing is suspicious, but keep in mind, does anyone besides the GOGMasters really know how much a +/- vote is worth?
For example, it could be that:
0 to 4 minus votes = lose that amount of rep
5 to 10 minus votes = lose 10 rep
10 to 20 minus votes = lose 20 rep
etc...
In which case, if you can consistently piss off 5 or more people with a single post, you'd lose a multiple of 10, regardless of what the actual number of minus votes are...